March - The Alberta Land Surveyors

news
ALSMARCH 2010 VOL. 39-1
ISSN
0703-4228
PRODUCED QUARTERLY FOR CIRCULATION TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ALBERTA LAND SURVEYORS’ ASSOCIATION

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ALSnews
MARCH 2010 VOL. 39-1
inside
52
The shortest distance between two points
is not a trip back to the tripod.
0833
0834
trimble s8 tOtAl stAtiON
0832
“Back and forth.” Easily two of the most hated words for any surveyor.
Except perhaps, “again”.
Trimble ® VISION technology brings new levels of productivity to the
Trimble S8 Total Station by dramtically reducing trips back to the tripod.
Now you can see everything the instrument sees from your controller.
Why walk back With the longer range EDM you can stay put, keep
your feet dry, and use your controller to aim, acquire, and capture
measurements to reflectorless surfaces – at more than twice the
distance you’re used to.
The Trimble S8 also gives you live video streaming with surveyed data
on the screen to confirm your task list. With photo documentation,
you have visual verification for all data before leaving the site.
Eliminating an even costlier form of back and forth.
Trimble VISION is the latest in a long line of innovations designed to
make surveying more productive, in the field, in the office, and wherever
the next opportunity takes you.
0831
Editor
Brian E. Munday (munday@alsa.ab.ca)
Advertising and Production
Sharon D. Armstrong (armstrong@alsa.ab.ca)
Deadline dates for submission of articles to
ensure printing are as follows: February 15th,
June 1st, September 1st, and November 15th.
Advertising deadline dates are as follows:
February 1st, May 15th, August 15th, and
November 1st. Opinions expressed by the
editor or individual writers are not necessarily
endorsed by the Council of the Alberta
Land Surveyors’ Association. Original articles
may be reprinted with due credit given to
the source and with permission of individual
writers or where no writer is indicated, with
the permission of the Editor. ALS News is
published by the Alberta Land Surveyors’
Association for circulation to the Association
Membership. Address all correspondence to:
Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association
Suite 1000, 10020 - 101A Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3G2
Tel: 780-429-8805 or 1-800-665-2572
Fax: 780-429-3374 E-mail: info@alsa.ab.ca
Website: www.alsa.ab.ca
ALBERTA LAND
SURVEYORS’ ASSOCIATION
President
D.R. (Don) George
Past President
R.O. (Ron) Hall
Vice President
B.D. (Brian) Ross
Secretary Treasurer and Registrar
D.R. (Dave) McWilliam
Executive Director
B.E. (Brian) Munday
Director of Practice Review
C.C. (Chris) Everett
Assistant to the Director of Practice Review
J.P. (John) Ironstone
Councillors
G.A. (Greg) Boggs
H.C. (Hugo) Engler
D.J. (David) Hagen
J. (John) Haggerty
J.I. (Jim) Maidment
C.R. (Connie) Petersen
Public Members
D.R. (Russell) Barnes (Council)
R. (Rudy) Palovcik (Practice Review Board)
9 President’s Message
11 Councillor’s Forum
13 Editor’s Notes
15 Letters
16 Association Notes
21 Nominees for Council
25 Connections
31 Director’s Message
34 Guardpost
35 Professional Development
37 Public Relations
39 Registration
41 Safety Sense
43 Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
45 Education News
47 ASSMT
49 A Moment of Silence—E.F. Zander, ALS
50 Army MacCrimmon Interviews Bill Wolley-Dod
52 History
Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association
Annual General Meeting & Convention
April 22-24, 2010 — Jasper Park Lodge
Cover Design by Rose Country
Advertising and Public Relations
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Trimble Access is a trademark of Trimble Navigation Limited. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SUR-183
ALS News March 2010 . 7

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president’s message
don george, als
The Continuing Competency Review program
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program that combines a portion of the Systematic
Practice Review Program, mandatory continuing
education and Association involvement...
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All other brand names, product names or trademarks are property of their respective owners.
This is my last president’s message and I would like to
thank the membership for their support, comments,
questions and suggestions throughout the year. This
has been a challenging year for Council; I will outline
some of the events and challenges that your Council encountered
in this term.
We started out with trying to live within a reduced budget.
A motion from the floor at the AGM asked that Council
consider implementing a contingency plan that would contemplate
a further reduction of 25% of the number of posts
and marker posts from what was presented in the original
budget. So how can this be accomplished We closely tracked
the sale of posts (iron posts and marker posts) and compared
the actual amounts with 1) original budget, 2) contingency
(75% of original budget), and 3) five-year average. Percentages
were recorded adjacent to each column so it was easy for us
to see how we were comparing. The combined tallies for the
first seven months (May to November) ran about 85% of the
original budget and about 114% of the contingency. The last
few months (September to November) were very low (about
80% of original budget). We reacted by: not replacing some of
the staff that left; eliminating the January/February regional
meetings; cutting back on various office items, and eliminating
other commitments previously done in other years. These
cutbacks allowed us to reduce costs that helped balance out
the loss of revenue from post sales. We must commend our
staff for taking up the majority of the slack by taking on more
responsibilities by extending and reallocating their time. The
good news is that post sales in December and January were
125% and 103% respectively, of the original budget; hopefully
this positive trend continues. It is interesting to note that to
date, we are about 50% of the last five-year average.
The dual plan registration and the Public Land affidavit
issues consumed a considerable amount of time and effort.
Council members and groups from Council had many meetings
with the Director of Surveys (DOS) and his staff to try
to iron out differences and break down the wall that appeared
to be building between the membership and the DOS office.
Legal opinions were reviewed and debated; a group of members
submitted letters to Council raising concerns that they felt they
were being forced to sign false affidavits on plans. Council definitely
did not condone this practice and said so. Throughout all
of this, we had various extraordinary meetings, in addition to
the regular Council meetings, to try to come up with a resolution.
Finally Council, in conjunction with the DOS, prepared
memoranda that were circulated to the membership that
explained the beliefs of both parties. I am convinced that it is
imperative that our membership, the public, resource developers
and the DOS office work together to smooth out processes
and procedures prior to them being implemented in the future.
The good news is that, at the last Council meeting, your Council
and the DOS agreed to work together in the future on issues
affecting Public Lands.
The Boundary Panel has had seven cases before it and they are
each at various stages. It appears that many other situations do
exist “out there” but are not coming before the Panel. The funding
continues to grow considerably more than is being spent. There
has been some discussion to consider asking the government to
reallocate some for the funding to the operation of the Association
through its mandate to meet other requirements that were set out
by the ministerial order. In this arena, the funding is falling short of
what is being spent to meet these requirements. A Council committee
has been struck to look into setting terms of reference to look
into how the Boundary Panel should better serve the Association
and the public.
The Continuing Competency Review program is being developed
under the guidance of an extremely high-powered group consisting of
four Council members, chairmen from both of the Practice Review
Board and Professional Development Committee, the Director of
Practice Review and office staff (Brian Munday and Kerry Barrett).
This working group is developing a program that combines a portion
of the Systematic Practice Review program, mandatory continuing
education and Association involvement that will be used to evaluate
the competency of our membership. The initial program will be
presented at the March regional meetings and at the AGM in April.
Be sure to come out to these meetings and provide your comments
ALS News March 2010 . 9

Members of Council...have spent countless hours
reading and reviewing legal opinions and other
supplied material, in order to make tough decisions.
and questions as this information is essential
for developing the final product that will be
implemented later this year.
One of the fallouts of being short of
funds due to the low post sales is the increase
in internet meetings rather than face-to-face
meetings. The use of the internet has significantly
reduced the costs to the Association.
It appears that most committees were able to
function quite well. There definitely were a
few side benefits in addition to cost savings.
Some of them are as follows:
1. The reduction of time travelling to and
from meetings. This allows members
to attend the meetings then go back to
what they normally do during their day.
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2. Safety is also realized as members are
not required to travel on the highways
to attend these meetings.
3. Members from remote centres are
able to attend these meeting as well as
members that reside in larger or central
communities.
These internet meetings are not always
as effective as the face-to-face ones but
some individuals have indicated that they
were a more efficient use of member and
staff time. Council did use these types of
meetings on four occasions and found it
to meet its needs at those times.
Members of Council have put in a
significant amount of extra time by at-
tending four additional meetings over
and above the regular meetings, due to
the Director of Surveys issues and a discipline
appeal to Council that happened
this year. In addition to these meetings,
they have spent countless hours reading
and reviewing legal opinions and other
supplied material, in order to make
tough decisions. I wish to thank your
Council for their dedication, perseverance
and commitment in their endeavours
over this term.
I would also like to thank Brian and
his staff for the countless services that they
provide to our membership and last to
you, the membership, for the confidence
you put in me to represent you for the last
term as your president.
I hope you will be able to come out to
our AGM at the Jasper Park Lodge this
April and I look forward to seeing you
there.
This is a busy time of year for Council with the approval
of the budget and many other items on Council’s plate.
I thought this would be a good time to go over some
of the issues that Council is dealing with at this time.
A lot of time this year has been spent on issues arising from
the Director of Surveys office. Council has, after many meetings,
accepted the Director of Surveys’ policies concerning dual plan
registration and the new public land affidavit and policy. Council
is continuing to meet with the Director on an ongoing basis on
many items. Geo-referencing, integration and the Boundary Panel
are examples of these.
The Boundary Panel was established to investigate boundary
uncertainties and alleged survey errors. The panel was
created in 2004 after a presentation to the AGM. In 2008, the
Government of Alberta came to a funding agreement with the
ALSA that $2.50 of the mark-up from the sale of each iron
post and marker post must go to the Boundary Panel. The
Boundary Panel has dealt with a number of cases to date but
relatively few new cases have been forwarded to the Boundary
Panel. Council now is considering hiring an ALS as a consultant
to prepare a report on the Boundary Panel process. If
you know of any boundary uncertainties or possible survey
errors, please contact the Boundary Panel. This process can be
started by contacting Brian Munday at the ALSA office. If you
have any questions or any ideas on how this process could be
improved, please contact a member of Council or forward your
ideas to the ALSA.
The next big item on the Council’s agenda is the new Continuing
Competency Review program. At the last Council meeting,
we received an update from the Continuing Competency
Working Group in regards to the new practice review/continuing
education program. At the writing of this article, Council has
only seen the first draft of the proposal and has yet to give the
proposal its endorsement. It is proposed that the new program
will review continuing competency based on four components;
practice review, education and training, professional association
involvement and other accomplishments. It is envisioned
councillor’s forum
DAVID HAGEN, als
In the case of the new Continuing Competency
Review Program, please read the material that
you will receive and come prepared to the regional
meetings and the AGM with your feedback,
questions or concerns.
that a selected land surveyor when contacted by the Director of
Practice Review (DPR) will complete a web-based questionnaire.
The questionnaire will consist of questions similar to the current
internal review and includes questions on education and training,
professional association involvement and other accomplishments.
The questionnaire will also ask the land surveyor to provide pdf
or tiff files of recent products; one of which will be selected for a
review. The results of the questionnaire and product review will
then be assessed. Upon completion, the results will be presented
to the Practice Review Board. In the case of a less than satisfactory
review, the PRB may order a comprehensive review similar
in form to the existing practice. The details of this process are still
being refined at this writing but it is important that the membership
be involved in the process. Once Council endorses the
concept, the program will be presented to the regional meetings
and at the AGM.
It is of the utmost importance that the membership gives
Council its feedback on the program. This program will affect every
ALS and it is important for us, as members, to take ownership
of this program and to try to make it serve both the public and
our members effectively.
As a member of Council, I take it as my duty to serve the
membership and the public. In the case of large changes in policy,
I think that the membership needs to be involved to give direction
to Council. In the case of the new Continuing Competency
Review program, please read the material that you will receive
and come prepared to the regional meetings and the AGM with
your feedback, questions or concerns. Council is looking for your
direction, so please make your voice heard. Also, if there are any
other concerns, ideas, and so on, that you think need to be dealt
with, don’t hesitate to contact Council.
Finally, I will use this forum to make a pitch for members to
be involved in the Association. Let your name stand for Council,
join a committee and attend the meetings. Being involved can be
a great experience and in the future, may help to maintain your
continuing competency. I hope to see you all at this year’s AGM
in Jasper.
10 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 11

editor’s note
brian munday
...I propose that we review all of the Association’s
forms and answer the following questions:
1. Do we need the form
2. What information do we really need to collect
3. Is the form in clear language
4. Can the form be managed electronically
No one likes to do paperwork. All of us, at some point
or another, complain about filling out this form or
signing this document. No one likes to do paperwork.
And yet, as modern society evolves, it seems like we
have more and more paperwork to do. I have heard it said that, with
modern technology, the physical act of land surveying is much easier
than it ever was in the past but the time saved in using modern technology
is more than taken up with the explosion in paperwork.
Recently, my youngest son who is in grade one had to write a
report on what he wants to be when he grows up. At this time, he
has decided he wants to be a rock star, having given up on his dream
of being an astronaut. Whether he ends up being a rock star or an
astronaut or a rocking astronaut, it is probably a safe bet that he
will have to fill out more than his share of forms and have all of his
paperwork in order.
The Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association certainly has more
than its fair share of forms and paperwork. Do you want to apply
for a surveyor’s corporation We have a form for that. Do you
want to become an articling student We have a form for that
too. Even if you decide that you no longer want to practice land
surveying and retire, there is a form that we require you to fill out.
I suppose it is little wonder that we have the number of forms
that we do. It is a necessary part of being able to effectively licence
and regulate the profession.
At the same time, it is very easy to become an automaton
and simply say that we need the form filled out (sometimes in
triplicate) without thinking why we really need the form, what
information do we really need, and how are we going to use the
information once we have it.
Over the course of the next year, I propose that we review all
of the Association’s forms and answer the following questions:
1. Do we need the form
2. What information do we really need to collect
3. Is the form in clear language
4. Can the form be managed electronically
In a quick review of the forms on the Association’s website,
I see six forms related to corporations and partnerships, eleven
forms related to articling pupils and labour mobility candidates
and eight miscellaneous forms ranging from an application for
associate membership to a form for filing an expense claim.
Do we really need all of these forms I cannot think of a
form right now that should be consigned to the trash bin. However,
I strongly believe that we should at least ask the question. To
me, it makes sense to ask whether each specific form still makes
sense. If it is needed, let’s keep it. Otherwise, let’s get rid of it.
What information do we need to collect on the forms Does
a corporate application form really require the corporate seal
Does the application to article really require a seal Does the application
for exemption from professional liability insurance need
to be signed by a Commissioner for Oaths in and for Alberta or
could that requirement be changed to include other jurisdictions.
We can argue that there is a need for these bits of information.
Certainly, in days gone by, a corporate seal on a document had
specific meaning and purpose. But does that still apply today I
am not proposing to have the answer to all these questions but,
again, I strongly believe it is time that we look at such things.
Is the form in plain language The re-write of the Manual of
Standard Practice into a plain language document was a success.
By all accounts, the membership appreciates having a manual that
is in clear simple language using an easy to read font. Why should
we not go through the same exercise for our forms and applications
There is at least one typographical error on one of our
ALS News March 2010 . 13

forms. Can you tell me which one The
articles of a pupil to an Alberta Land Surveyor
is a formal agreement and must be
recognized as a formal contract. However,
one sentence in the agreement is 169 words
long and ends with, “and diligently serve
the said intended pupilage.” Surely, we can
make the meaning clearer. Yes, using such
language might help you when you come
across an old metes and bounds description
but I am not sure that it is a reason why
we shouldn’t clean up the language in that
document and others like it.
Can the form be completed electronically
It seems like everything can
be done on the web these days and I don’t
think that is necessarily a bad idea. I can
order a book online. I can pay my income
taxes online. You have been able to submit
plans digitally to Land Titles for the last
ten years. So why can you not submit
a corporate renewal form to the ALSA
electronically Ah, there is a catch. Many
of our forms require a signature. The
corporate renewal form requires signatures
in several locations while the application
for exemption from professional liability
Net Notes
insurance requires two signatures from
two different people. How can we accept
an electronic submission if we also require
a signature, or signatures, on the document
I don’t have an answer to that. I
think it is, though, worth looking at the
legal implications of submitting forms
The 2009 Webby Awards (www.webbyawards.com) for “cultural institutions” were announced
this past May. Sites are selected based on excellence in the following criteria
(but not limited to): content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality,
interactivity and overall experience.
Webby Award Winners
Guggenheim Museum
www.guggenheim.org
Emerge Partners, Guggenheim and Pentagram
International Quilt Study Center Explorer
explorer.quiltstudy.org
Second Story Interactive Studios
SF Moma new website design
www.sfmoma.org
Hot Studio
People’s Choice Winners
The Museum of Science and Industry
www.msichicago.org
Odopod
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, State of Deception
www.ushmm.org/propaganda/
Cortina Productions
electronically or perhaps developing a
process similar to submitting a plan digitally
to Land Titles if it will save members
time and effort and keep the paperwork
complete and up-to-date.
After all, we all know how much we
love our paperwork.
Question Time
Q: I recently completed my renewal for my
surveyor’s corporation but I didn’t have to
pay any fees. What’s going on
A: According to Section 25(2) of the Land
Surveyors Act, a permit issued under
subsection (1) expires on January 31 of the
year following its issue. The permit may
be renewed but Council requires that each
surveyor’s corporation and partnership
submit a renewal form by January 31 each
year. The renewal form is designed to ensure
that the corporation continues to meet
the requirements of the Professional Practice
Regulation, especially with respect to
voting shares, directors, and Alberta Land
Surveyors responsible for branch offices.
Dues are not submitted with the
corporate renewal form. According to
Section 52 of the Association’s bylaws, the
annual membership fees and annual levies
become due on April 1 in each year and
are payable on or before April 30.
Failure to submit the corporate renewal
by January 31 or pay the dues and levies
by April 30 will result in the surveyor’s
corporation being unable to practice.
Wheeler House
Thank you for your interest in A.O.
Wheeler’s former Banff Park residence.
This letter is a request for support from
the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association
to convince Parks Canada not to dispose
of the house, which has deteriorated to
where Parks is planning its demolition.
As co-founder of the Alpine Club of
Canada, and the surveyor responsible for
the Alberta British Columbia Boundary
Commission, A.O. Wheeler was
granted permission by the Dominion
Commissioner of Parks to build on a
property adjacent to the town of Banff. In
namesake of his first wife, Wheeler built
“Claremount” in 1923-24, a charming
Craftsman’s style home just off Mountain
Avenue in Middle Springs. “Wheeler
house” as it has since become known,
left the Wheeler family in 1952, after
which time the lease changed hands a few
times before reverting back to Parks in
the 1990s. Shortly thereafter, the house
gained FHBRO designation, as acknowledgment
to the contribution of A.O.
Wheeler made to the community and his
country.
Parks Canada is saddled with two
problems relating to the A.O. Wheeler
property. The first is that the house sits
inside the Parks designated wildlife corridor.
Although against activity inside the
corridor, Parks themselves plan to invest
heavily in the rehabilitation of the Cave
and Basin, a project of greater sensitivity
in the same corridor. The second problem,
after decades of neglect, is that the home
and property have fallen into a state of
disrepair.
When visiting Banff National Park, it
is easy to see the few and ever declining
number of historic structures that remain
to tell our pioneers stories. Wheeler
House is one such place whose story needs
to be preserved. To do so will require a
purpose and a plan. To be respectful of the
wildlife, the house should have as small a
footprint as possible. As it was a summer
cottage, it does not need to be restored
much beyond that, but the house must
be occupied for extended periods of time.
Suggestions would include setting up a
foundation for the house, an advocacy
group, to look after and maintain the
property. The house, after being rehabilitated,
could be occupied for two or three
month stints for a purpose in keeping
with the mutual values of A.O. Wheeler,
and the Park. A few that come to mind
are researcher in residence (such as to
study climate change as it relates to our
National Parks), historian, or artist-inresidence.
Many people in the community have
responded to Parks decision, citing the
need to preserve cultural and historical
aspects of the Park. There needs to be a
solution to this situation that does not
include the disposal or removal of Claremount.
Given how surveying was such a
powerful component of this history, we
feel the Alberta Land Surveyors Association
could be integral to this cause. As a
result, we formally ask for your support.
Jennifer Crompton
Scholarships
Thank you for your continued support of
technology students at Red River College
with an award. Ms. Rhonda Prepes,
Academic Coordinator in the Civil
Engineering Technology Department, presented
the awards at the RRC Technology
Awards Reception on November 24th, on
your behalf.
Your generous donations have helped
ensure students are recognized for their
accomplishments, hard work and diligence.
Dr. Dale M. Watts, Dean
School of Construction and Engineering
Red River College
Please accept my sincere thanks for your
Association’s renewed commitment of
$2,500 annually in support of the Alberta
letters
Land Surveyors’ Association Scholarship
at the University of New Brunswick.
I would also like to take this opportunity
to welcome the Association, once
again, to the President’s Circle, recognizing
those who contribute $1,000 or more
annually to UNB.
As part of our mission to provide our
students with the best possible preparation
for the future, UNB places particular
importance on a strong scholarship
program. Scholarships not only open the
doors to education that might possibly
have remained closed for many of our
students, they also allow recipients to set
aside financial concerns and to concentrate
more fully on their studies and extracurricular
pursuits. Thoughtful gifts like
yours enable our students to reach further
and fulfill more of their potential than
they would otherwise be able to do.
Dr. H.E.A. (Eddy) Campbell
President and Vice-Chancellor
University of New Brunswick
Thank you very much for giving me
the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association
Award. I am very grateful for the $500,
and I appreciate the Alberta Land Surveyors’
Association’s support of my education.
The money has eased by finances this
term and a portion of it will go toward my
next CBEPS examination fees.
I will certainly consider Alberta when
sketching out my future career in land
surveying.
Tania Gosselin
Red River College Geomatics Technology Student
Thank you very much for the ALSA
scholarship. It is very much appreciated
and will definitely be put to good use.
Thank you for promoting and encouraging
students to do well.
Nick VanderVeen
NAIT Student
I apologize for taking so long to get
back to you but I would sincerely like to
thank you for the generous scholarship
you awarded me. The money from your
Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association scholarship
was a tremendous help during the
expensive semester. Thank you again.
Jacob Power
Geomatics Engineering Technology Student
College of the North Atlantic
14 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 15

association notes
New Members
#836 SIKKES, Nathan J.
Nathan
was born in
Hazelton,
BC in 1982.
After graduating
from high
school in 2000,
he attended
the University
of Calgary and
received a B.Sc.
in Engineering
in 2005.
Craig Hughes, ALS served as Nathan’s
principal from February 2006 until he
received his commission on December 11,
2009.
Nathan has been primarily involved
in oil and gas surveys throughout Alberta
with his current employer, McElhanney
Land Surveys (Alta.) Ltd. in Calgary.
Nathan enjoys climbing, downhill skiing,
travelling, reading and spending time
with family and friends.
#837 ELLIOTT, Dave
Dave was
born in Fort
St. John, BC
in 1979. He
graduated from
high school
in 1997 and
went on to
graduate from
the University
of Calgary’s
Department
of Engineering
in 2001 and also received an MBA from
Athabasca University in 2009.
Dave is a CLS and a BCLS and
became an Alberta Land Surveyor on December
11, 2009 by passing the Alberta
jurisdicational examination. He also holds
a designation as a P.Eng.
Surveying experience includes working
for Waberski, Darrow and Focus Surveys
in Fort St. John from 1997 to 2009. He is
also a volunteer with the NEBC Wildlife
Foundation, the Charlie Lake Conservation
Society and the Peace Country River
Rats.
Dave enjoys outdoor activities. Dave,
Jocelyn and Sage Elliott reside in Baldonnel,
B.C.
#838 SPENCE, Sara
Sara was born
in Regina,
Saskatchewan
in 1982. She
graduated from
high school in
2000 and went
on to receive
a B.Sc. in
Geomatics Engineering
from
the University
of Calgary in
2005.
Articles were served under Iain Skinner,
ALS from November 2007 to August
2008 and Caroline Anderson from
December 2005 to November 2007 and
again from August 2008 until she received
her commission on December 14, 2009.
Sara is working towards obtaining her
CLS and is also an Engineer in Training
with APEGGA.
Sara has been involved in oilfield surveys
in Alberta and legal and construction
survey in the Calgary area. She is currently
employed with AMEC Land Surveys
Limited in Calgary.
Sara is married to Doug and she enjoys
travelling, photography, kiteboarding and
hiking.
#839 PARK, Jeremy L.
Jeremy was
born in San
Luis Obispo,
California
in 1984 and
entered Canada
in 1987. In
2001, he
graduated from
high school
and went on to
receive a B.Sc.
in Geomatics
Engineering from the University of
Calgary in 2007.
Alberta Land Surveyors Doug Sharp
and Colin Jeschke served as Jeremy’s principals
from August 2007 until he received
his commission on January 5, 2010. He is
also an engineer-in-training with
APEGGA.
Most of Jeremy’s surveying experience
is with the oilfield and power industries
with some experience with real property
reports and construction layouts. He is
currently employed with Core Geomatics
Group Inc. of Calgary.
Jeremy takes yearly volunteer trips with
his local church to countries such as South
Africa, Mexico and China.
#840 LARGE, Ashley J.S.
Ashley was
born in Bow
Island in 1976.
He graduated
from high
school in Saskatchewan
in
1994 and from
SIAST Palliser
Campus
in 1997 with
a diploma in
computer aided
design and drafting technology. He also
received a B.Sc. in Geomatics Engineering
from the University of Calgary in 2006.
Les Mehrer, ALS and Ron Hall, ALS
served Ashley’s principals from September
2006 until he received his commission as
an Alberta Land Surveyor on January 27,
2010.
Surveying experience includes work in
the oil and gas sector and most recently
on municipal and construction surveys in
the office.
Ashley is married to Kim and is currently
listed as a sole practitioner.
#841 LOUIE, Michael R.
Michael was
born in Calgary
in 1980. After
graduating high
school in 1998,
he transferred
from Mount
Royal College’s
Engineering
program to
the University
of Calgary
Geomatics
Engineering program. He received a B.Sc.
in Geomatics Engineering in 2004.
Articles were served under Michael
Grosz, ALS and Brian Ross, ALS from
September 2004 until he received his
commission on February 19, 2010. He
has been on the ALSA Public Relations
Committee since 2007.
Michael has been involved with
wellsite and pipeline surveys with his
current employer, Caltech Surveys Ltd. of
Calgary.
Michael tells us he enjoys hockey, eating
and golf.
#842 ILLCHUK, Greg
Greg Illchuk
was born in
Winnipeg
in 1968. He
graduated from
high school
in Trenton,
Ontario in
1986 and from
the Canadian
Forces Air Navigation
School
in 1990. Greg
is also a graduate of NAIT.
Articles were served under Tim Harding,
ALS from June 2007 until he received
his commission on February 19, 2010.
He is a captain with the Canadian Forces
Reserve and a commanding officer with
the Black Knights Royal Canadian Air
Cadets.
Greg spent ten years as an air navigator
with the Canadian Forces flying C-130
Hercules aircraft. He has been working
with Challenger Geomatics Ltd. of
Edmonton since 2007.
Greg is married to Robin and enjoys
scuba diving and training and showing
Portuguese water dogs.
ALSA Member Updates
ACTIVE
Dave Armstrong — new e-mail:
dave417@telus.net.
Lloyd Cridland is now employed with
Munro Global Surveys (a division of
Global Surveys Group Inc.) at 1364
Southview Drive SE, Bay 1, Medicine
Hat T1B 4E7; Tel: 403-504-9771; E-
mail: lcridland@theglobalgroup.ca.
David Elliott received his commission as
ALS #837 on December 11, 2009. Mr.
Elliott is not currently employed by a
survey firm in Alberta and currently
resides in British Columbia.
Shaun Ewen left the employ of Raymac
Surveys Ltd. on January 15, 2010.
Shaun has applied for and been granted
exemption from the PLI bylaw and
is now a non-practicing member. His
contact information is: 502 Lansdowne
Avenue SW, Calgary T2S 0Z5; Tel:
403-863-1060; E-mail: shaun.ewen@
gmail.com.
Stephen Fediow commenced employment
with SAIT Polytechnic on November
23, 2009. He can be reached at
1301 - 16 Avenue NW Calgary T2M
0L4. Tel: 403-210-5860.
Al Flim is now employed at the Sherwood
Park office of Stewart, Weir & Co. Ltd.
Ryan Gordon is now employed with the
Grande Prairie office of Stewart, Weir
& Co. Ltd.; Direct Tel: 780-296-5198;
E-mail: ryan.gordon@swg.ca.
Greg Illchuk received his commission as
ALS #842 on February 19, 2010. He
is currently employed with Challenger
Geomatics Ltd. of Edmonton.
Ashley Large received his commission as
ALS #840 on January 27, 2010. He is
currently listed as non-practicing.
Michael Louie received his commission
as ALS #841 on February 19, 2010.
He is currently employed with Caltech
Surveys Ltd. in Calgary.
Roger Luard has assumed supervision,
direction and control of AMEC Land
Surveys Limited in Edmonton on
February 16, 2010.
Clive MacKeen left the employ of Northcan
Surveys Ltd. on January 28, 2010.
He is now listed as a non-practicing
member. His contact information is:
1406 Kensington Close NW, Calgary
T2N 3J8: Tel: 403-266-2436 or
403-923-2084; E-mail: csmsurveyor@
hotmail.com or csmackeenals815@
hotmail.com.
David Marquardt has taken employment
with Stewart Weir & Co. Ltd. Contact
information: 300, 926 – 5th Avenue
SW, Calgary, T2P 0N7; Tel: 403-264-
2585 ext. 105 or direct at 403-767-
4851; Email: david.marquardt@swg.ca.
Bill Mintz is operating as a sole practitioner.
Contact information is:
6105 - 304 Mackenzie Way SW, Airdrie
T4B 3H6; Tel: 403-945-0467.
Robert Morrison is now with Mission
Geospatial Ltd. in Calgary. His email
address is rmorrison@mgeo.ca and his
direct line phone number is 403-804-
7421.
Rich Nixon, began employment Midwest
Surveys Inc. on December 9, 2009 at
its Fort St. John, BC office. Contact
information is: 11003 Alaska Road
Fort St. John, BC V1J 6P3; Tel: 250-
781-3257l Fax: 250-781-3271; E-mail:
rnixon@midwestsurveys.com.
Jeffrey Olsen left the employ of Altus
Geomatics Limited Partnership on
January 15, 2010 and on January 27,
2010 began employment ACL Surveys
Ltd., which is awaiting registration
at 10127 - 121 Avenue, Suite 203,
Grande Prairie T8V 8H9 Tel: 780-
538-2070; Fax: 780-538-2079; E-mail:
jolsen@allnorth.com.
Jeremy Park received his commission as
ALS #839 on January 5, 2010. Mr.
Park is employed with Core Geomatics
Group Inc. in Calgary.
Jeff Patton left Baseline Geomatics
Group Ltd. on January 5, 2010. He
was granted exemption from the PLI
bylaw and is now considered a nonpracticing
member. Jeff has confirmed
his contact information to be: 37 Elgin
Meadows Way SE, Calgary, T2Z 0B7;
Tel: 403-532-9363; E-mail: wjpatton@
telusplanet.net.
Connie Petersen has a new cell phone
number: 403-330-9096.
Brad Sawchuk has left Focus Surveys
Limited Partnership. Effective February
8, 2009 Mr. Sawchuk is employed
with Bemoco Land Surveying Ltd. in
Red Deer. He can be reached at 403-
342-2611 or e-mail at brad@bemoco.
com.
Nathan Sikkes received his commission
as ALS #836 on December 11, 2009.
Mr. Sikkes is employed with McElhanney
Land Surveys (Alta.) Ltd. of
Calgary.
Sara Spence received her commission as
ALS #838 on December 14, 2009. As
of February 16, 2010, she assumed supervision,
direction and control of the
Calgary office of AMEC Land Surveys
Limited at 140 Quarry Park Boulevard
SE T2C 3G3; Tel: 403-258-1016 or
16 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 17

her direct line at: 403-387-1812; E-
mail: sara.spence@amec.com.
Christy Thompson is no longer working
for Challenger Geomatics Ltd. He is
now listed as a sole practitioner. His
contact information is: 283 Dechener
Road, Edmonton, T6M 1W5; Tel:
403-481-8426.
Michael Thompson left Maltais Geomatics
Inc. as of February 1, 2010. He is
awaiting registration of a new surveyor’s
corporation.
Metin Timocin is now operating as sole
practitioner. Contact information is:
71 Somerset Dale SE, Medicine Hat
T1B 0G9; Tel: 403-529-9257; E-mail:
metintimocin@yahoo.com.
RETIRED
Rick Beaumont — it was reported in the
last ALS News that Rick’s had moved
to 17603 - 99 Avenue NW, Suite 31,
Edmonton T5X 6B9. Rick has advised
that his correct address is 17603 - 99
Street. Our apologies.
ARTICLED PUPILS
Amy A. Badinski articled to Lesley
Ewoniak, ALS of McElhanney Land
Surveys (Alta.) Ltd. in Edmonton on
January 28, 2010.
Adam Berg articled to Frank Meashaw,
ALS of Stewart, Weir & Co. Ltd. in
Sherwood Park on January 15, 2010.
Horatiu Caraba articled to Len Olson,
ALS of Olson Surveys Ltd. in Lacombe
on July 27, 2009.
Richard David articled to Brian Doyle,
ALS of Pals Surveys and Associates Ltd.
in Edmonton on November 17, 2009.
Bernard de Jong signed articles with
Larry Pals, ALS of Pals Surveys and
Associates Ltd. in Edmonton on
December 14, 2009. Mr. de Jong was
associate member AS062.
Robert Gregoire terminated articles with
Barry Fleece, ALS on January 15,
2010.
Michael McEachern terminated articles
with Mark Prevost, ALS on January
15, 2010.
Ivo Nedev transferred articles from Larry
Pals, ALS to John Byrne, ALS on January
18, 2010.
Kurtis Popadynetz articled to Doug
Lunty, ALS on Focus Surveys Limited
Partnership in Edmonton on December
3, 2009.
AFFILIATE
Jim Clarke has resigned his affiliate
membership.
ASSOCIATE
Mila de Regt (AS072) became an associate
member on December 10, 2009.
Her contact information is: 1507 Center
A Street NE, Suite 312, Calgary
T2E 2Z8.
Raymond A. Heilman (AS073) became
an associate member on January 27,
2010. His contact information is: PO
Box 1512, Hanna T0J 1P0.
Gregory Place (AS074) became an associate
member on January 27, 2010. His
contact information is: 5211 - 109A
Avenue, Edmonton T6A 1S6.
CORPORATE
327786 Alberta Ltd. is the former Foothills
Surveys Ltd., effective December
18, 2009. Dave Armstrong, ALS is the
Alberta Land Surveyor responsible for
the supervision, direction and control
of the practice. Contact information is
106 McPherson Drive, Hinton T7V
1J8; Tel: 780- 865-7592; E-mail:
dave417@telus.net.
Axis Geomatics Ltd. phone number is
780-352-3389.
Barlow Surveying Inc. in High Prairie is
now a project/field office. Council approved
La Crete as the head office for
the surveyor’s corporation.
Boss Geomatics Ltd. phone number is 780-
868-1059; E-mail is tbeblow@shaw.ca.
Core Geomatics Group Inc. has moved
to 708 - 11 Avenue SW, Suite 227,
Calgary T2R 0E4.
Foothills Surveys (2009) Ltd. was
registered as a surveyor’s corporation
(P251) on December 10, 2009 under
the supervision, direction and control
of Benjamin Giesbrecht, ALS. Contact
information is 217 Pembina Avenue,
Suite 102 Hinton T7V 2B3; Tel: 780-
865-7200; Fax: 780-865-7521; E-mail:
ben@foothillssurveys.com; Website:
www.foothillssurveys.com.
Jones & Associates Surveys Ltd. (P253)
was registered as a surveyor’s corporation
on January 11, 2010 under the
supervision, direction and control of
Bruce Jones. The contact information
is: PO Box 1389, 87 Elizabeth Street,
Bay 2, Okotoks T1S 1B3; Tel: 403-
453-0037; Fax: 866-264-4998; E-mail;
bruce@bwjsurvey.com; Website: www.
jonessurvey.com.
Maltais Geomatics Inc. has closed its
High Level branch as of February 1,
2010. The location now operating as a
field/project office.
Morrison Hershfield Geomatics Ltd.
was registered as a surveyor’s corporation
(P252) on December 15, 2009
under the supervision, direction and
control of Arlin Amundrud, ALS.
Contact information is: 6807 Railway
Street SE, Suite 300, Calgary T2H
2V6; Tel: 403-246-4500; Fax: 246-
4220; E-mail: aamundrud@morrisonhershfield.com.
Membership Dues
Can be Paid Online
This year, you will be able to pay your
membership dues online by credit card
through the ALSA website. Paying your
dues online is safe and easy.
Please remember that it is the member’s
responsibility to ensure that these
are paid. In accordance with the ALSA
bylaws “The annual membership fees and
annual levies become due on April 1 in
each year and are payable on or before
April 30.” A $200 late penalty fee will
apply to dues that are received after April
30.
Brochures and Thank You
Pads Available From the
ALSA Office
The Association has the following brochures
available to the membership free
of charge. Imprinting of your company
contact information is available through
the Association office (costs apply).
• Alberta’s Subdivision Process
• A Practical Guide to Survey Markers
• Real Property Report
• Land Surveying: A Career without
Boundaries
• Understanding Easements and Rightsof-Way
• Thank You Pads (door knocker cards)
The thank you pads can be left for homeowners
who are not home to inform them
of what type of survey you conducted
and if this activity involves their property,
neighboring or municipal property. There
is a place for you to include your company
contact information if the homeowner
has any questions regarding your activities
on their property. These cards also explain
who Alberta Land Surveyors are and the
right to access property. Imprinting of
your company contact information is
available through the Association office
(costs apply).
If you are interested in ordering any
of these items, please visit the Association
website (www.alsa.ab.ca).
No Hockey Game at the
2010 AGM in Jasper
It looks like we are not going to be able to
have our annual ALS Hockey game this
year due to the Jasper and Hinton arena
ice not being available. Both venues are
taking their ice out as they have other
activities booked at that time.
Spatial would be happy to organize a
game at another location and time if there
is enough interest. We are looking at other
possible activities in place of the game and
will be sure to keep everyone informed.
Brett Findlater, Vice President
Spatial Technologies Partnership Group
Making Their Mark
Museum Exhibit in
Grande Prairie
The Grande Prairie Heritage Discovery
Centre hosted the Making Their Mark
museum exhibit in the fall of 2009. The
exhibit coincided with the centennial of
the survey in the area. In addition to the
museum exhibit, there were a number of
newspaper articles published about the
centennial survey and the museum exhibit
too.
Six school groups visited the exhibit
and 256 visitors signed the guest book.
Here are some of the comments from the
guest book:
• Fascinating! Thank you. — Ethiopia
• Very interesting. — Grande Prairie
• A great exhibit. Well done! — Grande
Prairie
• Amazing! Awesome. — Grande Prairie
• A nice way to spend the afternoon. —
Peace River
• Learned a lot. — Grande Prairie
• Wow!! — Beaverlodge
• Not enough time! Will be back. —
Beaverlodge
• Now I know how all this started. —
Pakistan
2009 alary Survey Results
Income and Benefits
Active Members
Year of Registration
Responses Average
Prior to 1970 3 $108,333
1970-1979 10 203,200
1980-1989 15 135,067
1990-1999 9 167,041
2000-2009 77 109,246
Nature of Practice
Responses Average
Sole Proprietor 5 $94,000
Partner 20 147,850
Private Practice 80 122,300
Education/
Government/Other 9 120,818
Office of Employment
Responses Average
Calgary and Area 42 $115,407
Edmonton and Area 29 153,120
Grande Prairie 11 137,455
Lethbridge/
Lloydminster/
Medicine Hat 11 97,501
Other 21 115,535
Allied Qualifications
Responses Average
Professional Land
Surveyor in another
Canadian jurisdiction 46 $145.796
Professional Engineer 42 141,412
Annual Personal Earnings
Overall Average (114)...............$125,424
Median.......................................125,000
Lower Quartile.............................90,000
Upper Quartile...........................140,000
Employment Benefits
(yes out of 116 replies)
Payment of annual registration fees....114
Payment of PD courses......................109
Payment of AGM expenses................108
Car allowance/company car.................62
Pension plan participation....................53
Medical benefits.................................105
Stock options.......................................51
Technical Support
Staff
28 replies were received on the technical
support staff survey. Unlike other years, the
technical support staff questionnaire was
only sent to sole practitioners and Alberta
Land Surveyors responsible for a head or
branch office. This would eliminate receiving
multiple responses from one office.
Party Chief I/Technologist
(good academic background or
extensive experience)
Average Hours Per Week ..................43.5
Average Hourly Salary ..................$24.75
Party Chief II/Senior Technologist
(capable of control
and management project)
Average Hours Per Week ..................43.8
Average Hourly Salary ..................$28.09
Survey Assistant/Technician
(experienced survey aide working under full
supervision)
Average Hours Per Week ..................43.0
Average Hourly Salary ..................$17.87
Receptionist/Administrative
Assistant
Average Hours Per Week ..................36.4
Average Hourly Salary ..................$18.87
CAD Operator II/
Senior Technologist
(capable of computing and drafting most
complex projects)
Average Hours Per Week ..................42.2
Average Hourly Salary ..................$30.60
CAD Operator I/Technologist
(capable of drafting average projects
with minimal supervision)
Average Hours Per Week ..................40.2
Average Hourly Salary ..................$23.32
Calculator
(capable of computing from
field notes and checking plans)
Average Hours Per Week ..................37.6
Average Hourly Salary ..................$25.23
18 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 19

nominees for council
For President
Brian D. Ross, ALS, CLS, P.Eng.
• Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1955,
immigrated to Calgary in 1957.
• Graduated from SAIT Survey Technology
in1979.
• Graduated from the University of
Calgary with a B.Sc. in Surveying
Engineering in 1983.
• Employed by Dome Petroleum,
(Canmar), Beaufort Operations from
1983-1987.
• Received P.Eng. in 1985.
• Received CLS commission in1989.
• Articled to John Hughes, ALS from
1985 to 1987.
• Employed by Cansult Limited, Abu
Dhabi, UAE from 1987-1990.
• Employed by The Cadastral Group
Inc. from 1990-1998.
• Articled to Stephen Green, ALS from
1990-1993.
• Received ALS commission in 1993.
• Resided in Nassau, Bahamas from
1998-2000.
• Employed by Caltech Surveys Ltd.
from 2000.
• Member of APEGGA.
• Member of ACLS.
• Future member of PSC.
• Married to Susan and has two grown
children.
ALSA Activities
• Standards Committee 2006-2007.
• Safety Committee 2006-2007.
• Council Member 2007-2009.
• Vice President 2009-2010.
Bruce W. Gudim, ALS, CLS
• Born in Rimbey, Alberta in 1955 and
raised in central Alberta.
• Graduated from the University of
Alberta with a B.Sc. (Survey Science)
in 1978.
• Employed by UMA Group (1978-
1979) and Maltais Geomatics Inc.
(1979-present).
• Articled to Norman Hanson, ALS and
Irwin Maltais, ALS.
• Received ALS commission in 1982.
• Director and Principal at Maltais Geomatics
Inc. since 1982.
• Member of ALSA Registration Committee
from 1988-1992.
• Chairman of ALSA Registration Committee
in 1992.
• Chairman of Western Canadian Board
of Examiners for Land Surveyors in
1993.
• Received CLS commission in1997.
• Member of ALSA Professional Development
Committee from 1997-1999.
• Chairman of ALSA Professional Development
Committee in 1999.
• Facilitator at ALSA Getting It Right
Seminars from 1999-2004.
• Member of ALSA Discipline Committee
from 2003-2007.
• ALSA Council Member from 2007-
2009.
• ALSA Council Liaison to Standards
Committee from 2007-2008.
• ALSA Council Liaison to Registration
Committee from 2008-2009.
• ALSA Delegate on Canadian Board of
For Vice President
Examiners for Professional Surveyors
from 2008-2009.
• Member of Alberta Sustainable
Resource Development’s Digital
Submissions Review Committee from
2008-2009.
• Member of ACLS Continuing Professional
Development Committee from
2003 to present.
• Guest Lecturer in NAIT Survey Law
Course GET71 from 2006 to present.
• Chairman of ACLS Continuing
Professional Development Committee
from 2009 to present.
• Member of ALSA Practice Review
Board from 2009 to present.
• Resides in Calgary, Alberta.
• Married 32 years to Diana and has
three adult children: Mark, Cassandra,
and Alexandra.
Dave Thomson, ALS, P.Eng.
• Born in London Ontario in 1958.
• Raised in a Canadian Forces Family
which was posted to Ontario, Europe,
Alberta, and New Brunswick.
• Graduated UNB (Surveying Engineering)
in 1981.
• One of the founding partners of Challenger
Geomatics in 1984.
• Articled to Vic Wolchansky, ALS and
received commission in 2000.
• Served on various ALSA committees
and sub-committees including, Con-
ALS News March 2010 . 21

John Haggerty, ALS, CLS, P.Eng
• Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• Raised in Edmonton, Alberta.
• Graduated from the University of
Calgary with a B.Sc. in Geomatics
Engineering.
• Worked for Haggerty Surveys Ltd.
(previously Diamond Willow Planning
and Surveying Ltd.) from a young age.
• Worked for Challenger Surveys Ltd.,
Stantec Geomatics, and the Revention
Committee, Discipline Committee,
Statutory Boundary Tribunal
Committee, and the GPS Standards
Sub-committee.
• Appointed President of Challenger
Geomatics in 2000.
• Currently serving on APEGGA’s Enforcement
Review Committee.
• Served on various industry-related
committees with APEGGA, Canadian
Hydrographic Association, and Calgary
Geomatics Cluster.
• Served on the Board of Calgary Technologies
Inc.
• Resides in Calgary and proud father of
two daughters, Laura and Nicole.
• Hobbies include, shuffling kids to various
practices, improving my golf game
(a formidable task) and wood working
when I feel the need to make sawdust.
For Secretary Treasurer
gional Surveyor’s Office of Geomatics
Canada.
• Employed with Can-Am Geomatics
Corp. from 1997 to present.
• Worked in Edmonton, Fort McMurray
and, for the past seven years, Grande
Prairie.
• Served Articles under Roger Ross, ALS
CLS and John Wallace, ALS.
• Received ALS commission in 2003,
professional engineer’s designation in
2004 and CLS Commission in 2007.
• Served on the Historical and Biographical
Committee, more often than
not, since 1999. Was involved in the
research and editing of Laying Down
the Lines. Currently, Council Liaison
for this Committee.
• Served on the Registration Committee,
more often than not, since 2004. Is
currently the Council Liaison for this
Committee
• Served on the CBEPS Candidate Evaluation
Committee since May 2009.
• Served as Council Liaison to the Standards
Committee in 2008/2009
• Helped with the plain language
re-write of the Manual of Standard
Practice.
• Currently serving a term on the Council
of the ALSA (April 2008 to April
2010).
• President of the Grande Prairie and
District Pipes and Drums.
• Enjoys hunting, camping, and gardening.
• Married to Elke; has three children,
Emma (6), Gordon (4) & Alexander (1)
and lives in Grande Prairie.
It’s your Council!
Be sure to vote
Elections take place
in the morning on
Saturday, April 24th at
Jasper Park Lodge.
For Council
Chris J. Chiasson, ALS, CLS
• Born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in
1973.
• Received a Survey Technologist Diploma
from the College of Geographic
Sciences in 1993.
• Received B.Sc. Eng from the University
of New Brunswick in 1998.
• Articled to Ken Drake, ALS and Tony
Melton, ALS.
• Received ALS commission in June of
2003.
• Received CLS commission in March
of 2004.
• Served on the Oil and Gas Ad Hoc
Committee, Public Relations Committee,
and currently on the Registration
Committee and the CLS Geographic
Information Technology Committee
(chairman for two years).
• Worked in the City of Calgary with
Kellam Berg Engineering and Surveys
and Pals Surveys Ltd. Worked on oilfield
surveying with All-West Surveys,
Crape Geomatics Corporation and
Altus Geomatics.
• Currently the branch manager with
Altus Geomatics in Grande Prairie.
• Married to Joanne, with 3 children;
Jessica (8), Kendra (6), and Emmet (4
months)
• Hobbies include hockey, golf, and
hunting.
Damian Gillis, ALS
• Born in Vanderhoof, British Columbia
in 1969.
• Graduated from Nechako Valley Secondary
School in Vanderhoof in 1986.
• Completed University Transfer Program
at the College of New Caledonia
in Prince George, British Columbia in
1987.
• Graduated from the University of
Victoria with a B.Sc. in Geography in
1992.
• Graduated from the University of
Calgary with a B.Sc. in Geomatics Engineering
(with Distinction) in 1998.
• Graduated from the University of
Calgary with a MBA in 2006.
• Articled to Conrad Lenius, ALS in
1998.
• Obtained ALS commission in 2001.
• Obtained CLS commission in 2003.
Duane M. Haub, ALS
• Born in Athabasca, Alberta in 1963.
• Graduated from the Northern Alberta
Institute of Technology with a Survey
Technology diploma in 1986.
• Employed by Murray and Associate
Surveys from 1987 to 1989.
• Graduated from the University of Calgary
with a B.Sc. in Survey Engineering
in 1993.
• Employed by Emmerson and Associates
Surveys Ltd. From 1991 to 1997.
Rob Pinkerton, ALS
Professional
• ALS Commission 2005;
• CLS Commission 2007;
• BCLS Commission 2009;
• SLS Commission 2009;
• P.Eng. 2010;
• Articled to Mark Kocher (2002-2005);
• ALSA Standards Committee (2005
through 2009);
• Chair ALSA Standards Committee
(2007-2008);
• ALSA Registration Committee (2009
to present);
• ALSA GNSS Working Group (2009 to
present);
• Obtained P.Eng. designation in 2005.
• Previously employed by B.C. Ministry
of Highways in 1990 and 1991; John
Whittaker, BCLS in 1993 and 1994;
and Michael Claxton, BCLS in 1994.
• Employed by Focus Corporation since
1996.
• Currently holds the position of field
operations manager, Calgary region.
• Member of the Public Relations Committee
(2003-2007).
• Chairman of the Public Relations
Committee (2006-2007).
• Member of the Standards Committee
(2007 - Current).
• Chairman of the Standards Committee
(2008-2009).
• Reside in Calgary with wife Evelyn
and five children: Elizabeth, Laura, Veronica,
Rebecca, and tbd. (due March
12th).
• Articled under Ian Emmerson, ALS,
CLS, and received ALS commission in
1998.
• Employed at Midwest Surveys Inc.
from 1997 to present.
• Served on the Professional Development
Committee from 1998 to 2004
and as chairman in 2001.
• Hobbies include golf, curling, and
travel.
• Married to Sue; two children—Christine
(26), and Jocelyn (22).
• ACLS Practice Review Committee
(2008 to present).
Education
• BSc. Geomatics Engineering from the
University of Calgary in 2002.
Employment History
• Fugro/SESL Geomatics (2002-2003);
• Millennium Geomatics (2003-2005);
• Can-Am Geomatics (2005 to present).
Personal
• Born in Vancouver BC; grew up in
Edmonton;
• Licensed power and glider pilot;
• Member of the Calgary Burns Club;
• Married to Carrie.
22 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 23

C-o-n-n-e-c-t-i-o-n-s
Don’t take anything you read on this page
too seriously. There are plenty of other articles
in this issue of ALS News which are
meant to be serious and need to be taken
seriously. But this isn’t one of them. It
starts off with a land surveyor working on
a job in the bush and end with the professionalism
of surveyors. But in between, it
is weird and wacky and hopefully funny.
***
Sometimes land surveyors complain
that they don’t get the same professional
recognition as doctors or lawyers. We’ve
all heard of lots of doctor and lawyer
jokes but have you ever heard of a good
surveyor joke Well, here’s one courtesy
of the Rochester Minnesota Post-Bulletin
newspaper.
A land surveyor’s job took him to a golf
course that was expanding from nine holes
to 18 holes. Using a machete to clear thick
brush in an area he was mapping, he came
upon a golf club that an irate player must
have tossed away. It was in mint condition,
so he picked it up and continued on.
When he broke out of the brush onto a
putting green, two golfers stared in awe. The
man had a machete one hand, a golf club in
the other, and a clear-cut swath more than
100 yards long behind him.
“There,” said one of the golfers, “is a guy
who hates to lose a golf ball!”
OK, so maybe that’s more of a golf
joke than a land surveyor joke. Anyway,
speaking of golf, there’s no shortage of
funny quotes from professional golfers
and celebrities who wanted to be professional
golfers. Here are just a few.
• Golf is like chasing a quinine pill
around a cow pasture. Winston Churchill
• You can make a lot of money in this
game. Just ask my ex -wives. Both of
them are so rich that neither of their
husbands work.
Lee Trevino
• It took me seventeen years to get 3,000
hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon
on the golf course. Babe Ruth
• Columbus went around the world in
1492. That isn’t a lot of strokes when
you consider the course. Lee Trevino
• These greens are so fast I have to hold
my putter over the ball and hit it with
the shadow.
Sam Snead
• If you’re caught on a golf course during
a storm and are afraid of lightning,
hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can
hit a 1-iron.
Lee Trevino
• The people who gave us golf and called
it a game are the same people who gave
us bagpipes and called it music. Anon
• I would like to deny all allegations by
Bob Hope that during my last game of
golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and
a moose.
Gerald Ford
• After all these years, it’s still embarrassing
for me to play on the American
golf tour. Like the time I asked my
caddie for a sand wedge and he came
back ten minutes later with a ham on
rye.
Chi Chi Rodriguez
• If you think it’s hard to meet new
people, try picking up the wrong golf
ball.
Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon is credited with appearing
as an actor in 95 movies and television
shows. He was born February 8, 1925 in
a hospital elevator in Newton Massachusetts.
He appeared as a grumpy old man
in two movies, as “Daphne” in Some Like
It Hot and as “Ensign Pulver” in Mister
Roberts. Before any take he would say, “It’s
magic time.”
So that begs the question, how do
you become a magician According to
wikihow.com, there are just nine steps to
becoming a magician. Step two is learn
some magic. It didn’t seem that helpful
after all. Maybe I should just ask Harry
Potter. He seems to be doing all right and
making lots of money too.
Of course, Harry Potter wasn’t a magician.
He was a wizard. According to a
“reliable” source on the internet, the word
“wizard” was derived from the word “wis,”
which is “wise” in old English. The word
was initially used to indicate a wise man
or woman and only later, it became connected
to magic.
If you’re interested in words and
language, here’s an interesting story for
you. Australia is the third most monolingual
nation in the world, a report by the
Griffith Asia Institute says. Three-quarters
of the population speak only English.
Within 30 years, half of Australia must
be fluent in an Asian language or risk
falling further behind other countries, says
the report, Building An Asia-Literate Australia:
An Australian Strategy For Asian
Language Proficiency.
Its lead author, Michael Wesley, director
of the Griffith Asia Institute, said the
country was suffering from a less wellknown
skills shortage: the ability to operate
in different cultures and languages.
“As China’s and India’s influence
spreads, and Japan and Indonesia become
major players, our region will increasingly
conduct its business in the languages of
the big Asian powers, and be shaped by
their mindsets and preferences,” the report
said.
Some of us would say that most Australians
don’t even speak English. After
all, do you know what a cadbury is How
about a tall poppy Didn’t think so. On
the left is the Australian English and on
the right is the real English.
• Ankle biter : small child
• Bingle : minor car accident / fight
• Cadbury : a cheap drunk (a glass and a
half)
• Figjam : Someone who has a high opinion
of themselves
• Frog in a sock : (as cross as a) sound
angry
• Larrikin : a joker
• Nipper : young surf lifesaver
• Piker : social misfit / drop out
• Rellie : family relative
• Shark biscuit : new surfer
• Stickybeak : nosey person
• Tall poppies : successful people
• Two pot screamer : person who gets
drunk easily
Australia has
always been
a different
kind of country—
known for barbies,
roos and an opera
house. They
celebrate
Christmas in summer after all. I guess it’s
no wonder that some of the stories you
see in the newspapers might seem, to a
Canadian, shall we say, a little odd.
There was the story of the millionaire
Australian who died after a fight when he
....continued on page 46
ALS News March 2010 . 25

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26 . March 2010 ALS News
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Edmonton
1-800-661-8816
Regina
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Richmond
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We have been stressing the use of checklists, yet
many of the plan discrepancies uncovered during
our reviews should have easily been picked up if
checklists had in fact been used.
Phase Three Ratings Report and What Comes Next
Summary of New SPR Phase 3 Practice Ratings Reviewed by the Practice Review Board
January 1 to December 31, 2009
PLANS FIELD NOTES FIELD INSPECTION
Average High Low Average High Low Average High Low
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
29 Subdivisions 85.83 94.32 73.76 77.53 93.48 63.94 81.40 98.37 50.16
21 Right-of-Ways 86.12 96.98 76.76 78.29 94.07 55.45 85.25 97.98 68.47
20 Wellsites 83.36 90.79 72.19 78.94 90.74 67.64 87.64 96.33 72.98
22 RPRs 84.21 95.79 69.92 77.16 96.33 61.17 77.50 100.00 37.70
3 Road Surveys 86.04 93.33 74.10 73.19 87.59 53.07 93.00 98.87 87.91
1 Descriptive Plans 93.42 93.42 93.42 N/A N/A N/A 100.00 100.00 100.00
2 Condo Plans 86.93 94.23 79.62 75.24 93.20 57.27 74.94 83.50 66.38
98 Products 85.13 96.98 69.92 77.72 96.33 53.07 83.03 100.00 37.70
(6 Products did not receive field inspections due to the scaled back program)
Average High Low
(%) (%) (%)
32 Files/Practice
Ratings 81.65 92.79 63.03
(9 follow up reviews)
SPR Phase 3 Average Rating to Date = 81.28%
INTRODUCTION
Phase Three of the “Systematic Practice Review” program began on June 22nd in 2004, when the first file
was opened and is now nearing completion. It has cost the Association approximately 2.5 million dollars.
Most practices that have been operating for more than one year will have had an “internal” review by the
Director and some of the products they produced inspected in the field by the Assistant Director as part of
an “external” review.
Calgary
1-800-661-1129
Edmonton
1-800-661-8816
Regina
(306) 525-6422
www.butlersurvey.com
Richmond
1-800-667-5944
ALS News March 2010 . 31

Since Phase 3 began, 124 files have
been opened, 85 of which have
been completed and closed. There
are 15 files, requiring additional
information or actions by the practitioner
which have been presented to the
Board but not yet closed. The required
actions include dormant plan reporting
and necessary plan corrections. There are
14 additional files which are in the final
stages of completion and will be presented
to the Board in early 2010.
The framework document, initiating
the program, specifying the administrative
details and spelling out the reporting
procedures was approved by Council in
June 2004. It instructed the Board in item
1.6 as follows:
Statistical data from practice reviews will
be collected and reported in a format
similar to the product and practice ratings
developed in Phase 2.
During the life of this phase, three
such reports have been prepared and
published. One in each of the June issues
of the ALS News in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
There were no reports prepared in 2008
or 2009 as the program suffered a few
hiccups during that period. This report
will now cover the period from January 1,
2009 to December 31, 2009. It should be
noted that, in the summer of 2009, it became
obvious that declining resources and
increasing numbers of firms would mean
an extension of the projected completion
date. An extension was felt to be
unacceptable and a “streamlining” of the
program was approved. This marginally
affected the scoring and weighting system.
Consequently, the statistical results may
be somewhat skewed.
Points to note . . .
During the past year, 29 subdivision
plans, 21 right-of-way plans, 20 wellsites
plans, 22 real property reports, 3 road
surveys, 1 descriptive plan and 2 condominium
plans were reviewed by the
Board. These 98 products represent 32
practices.
The SPR average rating to date is
81.28%. This is down marginally from
the 81.48% reported in June 2007. It is
particularly pleasing to see the average
score between January 1 and December
31, 2009 of 77.72% for field notes, up
from the 75.09% that was reported in
32 . March 2010 ALS News
2007. The plan product score for the same
period is lower by 0.82%, from 85.95%
in 2007 to 85.13%. There has been a
considerable drop in the results for field
inspections of 1.51% from the June 2007
figure of 84.54% to 83.03%. This might
be attributed, to some extent, to two very
low RPR field inspection scores of 37.7%
and 40.22%. However, the practitioner,
who had theses low scores, received 100%
on two of the three field inspections for
the additional products that were requested
and then reviewed, attesting to the
success of the program.
The products selected for review are, as
best we can, representative of the dayto-day
operations of the practices and,
therefore, the averages calculated are an
indication of the profession as a whole,
thus enabling us to pinpoint areas of general
concern and, if appropriate, recommend
remedial actions for improvement.
This year, as in the past, the disappointing
low scores for the field inspections seem
to be mainly due to the lack of diligent
searching for original and controlling
evidence in the field. This in turn, is
indicative of practitioners expecting too
much of the field technologist and not
spending enough “on the ground training
time” with the newer party chiefs.
I am also disappointed that the plan
product score is down by almost 1%. We
have been stressing the use of checklists,
yet many of the plan discrepancies uncovered
during our reviews should have easily
been picked up if checklists had in fact
been used. (Checklists are available on the
ALSA website and they reference the Land
Title Office Procedures Manual, the Manual
of Standard Practice and others.)
The areas that were previously identified
by Fred Cheng, ALS, the previous
Director and author of the June 2007
report, as deficient, were field notes and
GPS redundancy measurements amongst
others. It is interesting to note that there
has been a marked improvement in both
of these areas, although the completeness
of evidence reporting and quality of field
notes could still stand some improvement.
Now what’s next
Section 12 of the Land Surveyors Act
establishes a Practice Review Board,
although the precise method of a practice
review or a competency program is not indicated.
However, Section 13 in the same
Act outlines the general principles and
instructions that Council should demand
of the Board. In accordance with the Act:
13(1) The Board shall at the request of
the Council or after consultation with the
Council
(a) inquire into and report to and advise
the Council in respect of
(i) the assessment of existing and the
development of new educational
standards and experience requirements
that are conditions precedent to
obtaining and continuing registration
under this Act,
(ii) the evaluation of desirable standards
of competence of practitioners
generally,
(iii) the practice of surveying by practitioners
generally, and
(iv) any other matter the Council from
time to time considers necessary or
appropriate in connection with the
exercise of its powers and the
performance of its duties in relation
to the competence in the practice of
surveying under this Act and the regulations,
and
(b) conduct a review of the practice of a
practitioner in accordance with this Act
and the regulations.
Thus, when the current Phase 3 is complete,
a new round of practice review and
practitioner competency in field and office
procedures, to ensure the public’s interests
are protected and the requirements of the
Act are satisfied, will need to be initiated
and the format of any such review will be
a matter for Council to decide.
The review process, as it stands today,
is sometimes seen as an onerous task for
the practitioner and even, in some eyes,
a waste of time but it does have many
advantages, both to the public and to the
practicing land surveyor. A satisfactory
review will give the practitioner confidence
that they are maintaining similar
standards to their fellow surveyors and
that their field and office protocols are in
line with others. This helps to provide the
desired level playing field and also helps to
develop a sense of pride in the profession
amongst all practitioners, as each can be
assured that their colleagues are maintaining
the high and ethical standards upheld
by the Board. The public, represented
on the Board by a member of the public
who hears the results of every review and
ensures there is no bias or favouritism,
The present SPR format is not sustainable in the
long term, both financially and logistically. Therefore,
we need a new plan.
can also be assured their interests are well
protected.
The Rose Country Communications
survey which was completed in 2008,
with 288 surveyors out of 365 responding,
revealed satisfaction with the process
and indicated that the majority of the
membership viewed the program as both
beneficial to the public and educational
to the practitioners themselves. Although,
a few see the process as a policing activity
and resent the intrusion into what they see
as private matters, the vast majority say the
existing review process is money well spent.
The survey also indicated that most of the
practitioners would support a continuation
of the review process in a similar format
and it would be nice to carry on “as is” into
a fourth phase without any major changes.
However, to continue “as is” is not possible
as conditions within the Association have
changed dramatically since 1994 when the
What’s New at Stewart Weir
program was first envisaged and the process
of review and the revenue and expenditures
for the program have to be revisited.
The number of practitioners has
swelled from 255 to almost 400 yet funding
for the program, which is essentially
based on post sales, has already shrunk by
almost 50% this year. More practitioners!
Less money! Something has to give! In
addition, a modest growth of 3% in the
provincial economy would mean twelve
new surveyors would be needed each year
just to keep up with the demand, even if
none of the practicing members retired.
Our numbers will inevitably increase but
our financial base may not. The present
SPR format is not sustainable in the long
term, both financially and logistically.
Therefore, we need a new plan.
With this in mind, a hard working,
volunteer group (Continuing Competency
Working Group) has been charged by
Our core values of quality, client satisfaction and staff fulfillment are our
focus and we’ve embarked on new ventures!
Providing improved and expanded services for our clients, we now offer
digital mapping, engineering Photogrammetry, digital imagery and GIS.
We have established new offices in Lethbridge and Fort St. John, B.C.
Also, our Materials Testing group is adding a new testing lab!
In 2012, Stewart Weir will celebrate our 100th anniversary. We are
building for the celebration and want to make sure that our clients and
staff are part of the journey.
Sound interesting Check us out!
Council to develop a new format for the
process building in more of an educational
component, having the membership
undertake more of a self-administered
review and taking advantage of modern
communication technology. Whatever
comes of this initiative, it is my view that
three critical features must be present in
any new process. That is to say, the program
must:
a) ensure that every practice is competent
in providing the services it offers to
the public, maintaining professional,
technical and ethical standards that are
beyond reproach;
b) be relevant, practical and measurably
cost effective; and
c) be based on a funding model that is
sustainable in good and bad times.
The details of the new program have
not been fully developed as yet, but will
be released before the AGM. I urge all
Alberta Land Surveyors to get behind the
new program and thus maintain the excellent
reputation for competency that we
have worked so hard to earn.
Chris C. Everett, ALS (Ret.) BCLS, CLS, SLS (Ret.)
Director of Practice Review
Community Development Industrial Development Utility Development Resource Development
Visit us for further information at
www.swg.ca

guardpost
The Public Interest
Regulatory authorities typically justify their decisions in terms
of the public interest, but the term is almost never defined.
My article on “the public
interest” is intended for
the benefit of Alberta Land
Surveyors. This article
draws together ideas about the public
interest from the internet and my own
lengthy experience as a regulator with
Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada
and Alberta Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
Hopefully, this will provide a practical guide
for thinking through what the public interest
might be case by case.
While the primary purpose for regulating
land surveyors is to protect the public’s
interest, land surveyors also benefit
from regulation. Regulation establishes
guidelines and standards for practice, and
standards for educational and training
requirements. Regulation helps to protect
the public by ensuring that practitioners
are qualified, competent and ethical, and
the professional service received by the
public meets the standards society views as
acceptable. The regulating body, which is
presumably guided by the public interest,
determines what is desirable or acceptable.
Then it may either prohibit the conduct
that leads to undesirable outcomes, or direct
the conduct that results in the desired
consequences.
The public has had a desire to participate
in the decision making of selfregulatory
organizations for many years.
This reflects not only the broader social
movement of consumer activism, but also
the concern the public has about the ability
of professionals to regulate themselves.
Some members of the public are concerned
that self-regulating bodies put protection
of their members before protection of the
public in order to enrich themselves or take
advantage of their regulatory monopoly.
One way that governments across the
country have responded to this concern is
to include public members on the boards
or councils and committees of their regulatory
bodies, on the premise that public
participation leads to greater transparency,
fairness and public accountability.
The role of public members, broadly
speaking, is to represent and safeguard the
public interest. But what is the “public
interest” The answer to this question
may seem obvious to some practitioners,
however, I maintain that it is not. The
concept of “public interest,” in my experience,
is nebulous, lacks precision and has
different meanings for different people.
It means something more than just the
collective interests of individual Albertans.
At one extreme, an action has to
benefit every single Albertan (present and
future) in order to be truly in the public
interest. At the other extreme, any action
can be in the public interest as long as it
benefits some Albertans and harms none.
However, there is no one public interest
shared by Albertans at large. Rather, there
are many public interests depending upon
individual needs, the circumstances at the
time, and whether it is a broad view being
taken or a narrow one.
According to the Canadian Policy
Research Networks’ (CPRN) study Assessing
the Public Interest in the 21st Century:
A Framework, the literature shows five
distinctive approaches to understanding
the public interest:
• The public interest arises from, and is
served by, fair, inclusive, and transparent
decision-making procedures.
• The public interest is defined by what
a reasonably significant majority of the
population thinks about an issue.
• The public interest is a balance or compromise
of different interests involved
in an issue.
• The public interest is a set of interests
we all have in common such as clean
air, water, defence and security, public
safety, a strong economy.
• The public interest is a set of shared
values or principles.
Public interest is about the public
good; something that serves the interests
of the public. As already mentioned,
public interest is those shared interests we
Albertans have in common such as clean
air, water, and a strong, stable economy.
However, public interest is also the accumulation
of the individual interests
of persons affected by an action under
Opinions expressed in this piece
are solely those of the writer.
consideration, a policy, or a regulation.
The Land Surveyors Act and regulations,
and the Land Titles Act and regulations
are examples of this public interest. Those
with an interest in the regulation of land
surveyors may include members of the
public that own or lease land, individual
land surveyors, the land surveyors’ profession,
other professions and professionals,
governments, and employers.
The Australian Senate Committee
on Constitutional and Legal Affairs has
described the public interest as, “…a
convenient and useful concept for aggregating
any number of interests that may
bear upon a disputed question that is of
general—as opposed to merely private—
concern.” The Committee also said that,
“…‘public interest’ is a phrase that does
not need to be, indeed could not usefully,
be defined…. Yet it is a useful concept
because it provides a balancing test by
which any number of relevant interests
may be weighed one against another. …
the relevant public interest factors may
vary from case to case.”
It is no easy task identifying or determining
what is in the public interest in
any given situation. As Lyndon B. Johnson
once said, “doing what’s right isn’t the
problem. It’s knowing what’s right.” Thus,
the public interest is best seen as an approach
to use in making a decision rather
than an outcome to be achieved. In any
given situation, it will involve determining:
• Who should be considered to be the
relevant public
• What are the relevant public interest issues
that apply
• What relative weighting should be given
to various identified public interests
• How should conflicting or competing
public interests be addressed
In many cases there will be no clear
answer to each of these questions. What’s
important, in my opinion, is that a conscientious
effort is made to find appropriate
answers, that an appropriate approach
is followed (the decision-making must be
procedurally fair, open, transparent, and
accountable), and that all relevant matters
are considered. This does not always guarantee
decisions will be made in the public
interest. However, appropriate process is
the first essential step towards effective
decision-making in the public interest.
Rudy Palovcik, Public Member
TThe Professional Development
Committee (PDC) was tasked
by Council and the Association
membership to develop a
mandatory continuing education regime
at the 99th Annual General Meeting
(AGM) at Fairmount Lake Louise in April
2008. Last year, at the 100th AGM, at
the Banff Springs Hotel, the membership
overwhelmingly agreed to the first step of
the regime, voluntary reporting of continuing
education activities. The reporting
period ended on January 31, 2010 and
the results are being reviewed by the PDC
to help determine the amount and type of
continuing education activities currently
being performed by the membership.
The PDC would like to thank all 156
members who responded to the online
questionnaire. The comments regarding
the questionnaire and the overall process
were obviously well thought out and will
The PDC
is currently
attempting to
broaden our
delivery methods
and we are
planning our
first webinar for
the March 2010
Exam Preparation
Seminar.
be used by the Association to improve the
reporting process in the future. Fortunately,
for the PDC, most of the comments
were very positive and we appreciate the
members’ time.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly,
the responses to the online questionnaire
totaled approximately 30% of our membership
(both articled pupils and Alberta
Land Surveyors). This sample response
may be too small to give the Committee
an accurate picture of the membership’s
involvement in continuing education. This
was anticipated by the PDC mandatory
continuing education subgroup and that
is why we proposed mandatory reporting
of continuing education activities in 2010
and 2011, in order to obtain sufficient
information to create minimum standards
for professional development, should
the Association members decide to make
continuing education mandatory.
It was also the vision of the sub-group
that mandatory continuing education
could be integrated into the current Systematic
Practice Review (SPR) at a later
date. Well that later date is today. Council
formed a Continuing Competency
Working Group (CCWG) to revamp the
professional development
SPR and, under the direction of Council
member Connie Petersen, this working
group has successfully integrated continuing
education and practice review in a
new program that will be unveiled at this
year’s AGM. This new program makes the
development of a stand-alone mandatory
continuing education regime unnecessary.
Therefore, the PDC has stopped developing
the regime. Members of the PDC
have joined the CCWG and, hopefully,
the hard work the PDC sub-group put
into the development of the regime and
questionnaire will assist the CCWG and
Practice Review Board (PRB) with the
new program.
The PDC now returns to what we
do best: schedule, organize and present
professional development seminars for
the ALSA membership. The PDC is currently
attempting to broaden our delivery
methods and we are planning our first
webinar for the March 2010 Exam Preparation
seminar. This interactive webinar
will include video of a live seminar, held
in Sherwood Park, being streamed to
students’ computers and allowing them to
participate in the seminar using a headset
and microphone. We are optimistic that
this delivery method will finally allow
access to all the PDC seminars to all our
membership, spread throughout the province.
... professional
development will always
be an important part of
our profession and will
constantly be evolving...
The PDC is excited to see where this
new delivery method will takes us and anxious
to see what additional demands the
new competency program will place on us,
due to the education and training component.
Regardless, professional development
will always be an important part of our
profession and will constantly be evolving
to better serve the membership and
the public. If anyone has any comments
or advice for the PDC, please contact us
through the Association office.
Marty Robinson, ALS
34 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 35

public relations
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Retractable Sides enable easy in-town operation
Telescopic Ramp is the industry standard
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Truck Deck and Cargo System is easily
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More people earn a living with a Marathon
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Integrated winch mount
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The Ultimate Survey Platform
Another year has come and
gone and a modest recovery is
forecast for our slow-running
economy. The Public Relations
Committee has been busy completing the
tasks which were assigned to it. Similar to
other committees, budget cuts were one of
the main themes in everyone’s mind when
looking at our agenda. A few years ago,
when the economy was running at full
steam, our Committee initiated and took
part in some highly effective programs to
promote the profession to the general public.
Sponsorship of one of Science Alberta’s
crates was one of those good programs.
Several articles have been published
in this magazine in the past about the
Science in a Crate program, which our
Association sponsored through the Science
Alberta Foundation. This program has
been a huge success in promoting land
surveying among junior high students. I’m
not going to re-iterate what has previously
been published, but it is worth mentioning
how the program started and what the
results have been. The sponsorship began
back in April 2002 when representatives
from the Public Relations Committee met
with a group from the Science Alberta
Foundation to discuss creation of a science
crate which utilized principals of land surveying
for teaching mathematics. Science
Alberta is a non-profit organization created
in 1990, which brings a wide range
of science-based programs to Albertans. At
one of the initial meetings between members
of the Public Relations Committee
and the representatives from Science Alberta,
some typical land surveying projects
were shown to the crate contractor including
some final plans, maps, photographs
and aerial photography, along with some
land surveying equipment. The crate contractor
used the information provided to
start brainstorming and putting together
the design of the crate. It was later decided
that this crate would best suite the Grade
Eight mathematics curriculum, which
included shape and space measurement.
Two crates were created and tested at some
junior high schools. After receiving feedback
from teachers and students, minor
modifications were made and finally, seven
activities for the crates were adopted. A
detailed description of each activity and
the contents of the crate are listed on the
Science Alberta Foundation’s web page.
In the first year of its establishment, the
Made to Measure crate had 95% usage.
Every year, Science Alberta would write a
letter to our Association, which would be
published in the December’s issue of this
magazine. In this letter, Science Alberta
would update us on the usage statistics
and success of the program. In the 2003-
2004 school year, according to Science
Alberta, the crate travelled to 16 venues
in 8 communities and 828 participants.
Made to Measure was highlighted at several
workshops and conferences. Results of
teacher’s evaluations of the crate concluded
that 83% of the teachers agreed that
the crate activities helped them achieve
curriculum outcomes and helped students
develop a better understanding of the
concepts. In the 2004-2005 school year,
the crates travelled to 16 venues in 8 communities
with 1,231 participants showing
a 49% increase in participation compared
to the year before.
Originally, only two crates were created
with funding from our Association, but
shortly after reviewing the tremendous
success of these crates, our Association
upgraded its level of sponsorship and
Council approved funds to construct eight
additional crates through Science Alberta.
These additional crates were ready to be
used for the 2005-2006 school year. It
is worth mentioning that currently, the
Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association is
considered a level C sponsor at a value
of $40K to $60K with sponsorship of
ten copies of this crate. In the 2005-
2006 school year, the copies of this crate
travelled to 18 venues in 13 communities
and 710 participants. The following year
(2006-2007), these crates traveled to 21
venues in 14 municipalities and 1,152
participants. The last progress report
from Science Alberta was published in
ALS News in December 2007. Made to
Measure is still listed on Science Alberta’s
web page and it can be booked and
ordered at the same time on the website.
As it stands right now, some of the copies
of this crate are going through the seventh
year of their service and the items would
be getting worn out. There is no question
about the fact that this program has been
a great success story; however, due to the
current economic climate and the recent
cuts to the Association’s budget it might
be deemed unreasonable to try and maintain
same level of sponsorship for these
crates. Therefore, we need to be looking
at alternative measures of promoting the
profession to the general public and the
youth.
In the September 2007 issue of ALS
News, Jarl Nome, ALS, listed some excellent
ideas for getting to the public. As he
mentions, our numbers are very small
compared to other professions. At less
than 500 active members, comparing
ourselves to the 56,000 registered with
an association such as APEGGA, we are
ALS News March 2010 . 37

at a tremendous disadvantage. Therefore,
it is certainly up to each and every one
of us to try to educate and market our
profession to the general public. I believe
that it is absolutely essential that all active
members try to engage in public relations
activities such as attending career fairs at
universities, colleges, and high schools to
meet directly with the students. Another
example would be attending the University
of Calgary’s Beef and Bun BBQ for
first-year engineering students, and educating
them on the prospects of geomatics
as a career. Generally, many first-year
engineering students have a less than
colourful idea of what type of engineering
they want to specialize in. After taking a
year of general engineering courses, they
would have to make a decision on a more
specific path, and I believe that many of
them have minimal knowledge of the
surveying profession and its opportunities.
I was recently checking the Association
of British Columbia Land Surveyors
Theme Night
Friday, April 23 rd
Engage
An Interactive Mind
Reading and Illusion
Experience
(ABCLS) web page and came across their
very professional videos promoting what
a BCLS does. All these videos are posted
on YouTube. Also, it was very easy to
navigate and download brochures for
high school or post secondary students.
There is also a very good video promoting
California Land Surveyors on YouTube
that I would recommend to everyone.
With today’s advancements in communications
we should definitely use these
resources to our benefit. Similar videos
can be made through the work of our
Association. I am sure we have some very
good public speakers among the membership
and some very interesting projects
that we have worked on. Sharing this kind
of information and volunteering with the
Committee would definitely assist us in
making a video. If you or your spouse is
involved with the schools and you come
across an opportunity where a short presentation
can be provided to the students,
you should notify the Public Relations
Committee through the ALSA office. This
will help in educating the students as to
what we do as land surveyors and may
help them in making a career choice.
The Made to Measure crate was a program
that showed tremendous success and
reached many people across the province.
I believe that similar programs and sponsorships
would play an integral role in
promoting our profession and getting our
name out to the public. I would suggest
we continue our support of such crates
and to maybe adjust our level of sponsorship
to better reflect our current budget
and the economic climate.
In conclusion, I would ask all active
members to think of new ideas to promote
our profession, and to share them
with the Public Relations Committee. If
you come across a unique marketing and
public relations strategy that an organization
is using to reach the public, share it
with the Committee and we will put it to
good use.
Kia Shayestehfar, ALS
Members’ Lunch
Saturday, April 24 rd
Discover
Apply the Secrets
of Magic to
Your Life
ALSA Professional
Exam Results
Fall 2009
Practical Surveying
While the exam contained many new
questions, the style of questioning and
overall format remained consistent with
previous sittings. As always, each candidate
could expect to be tested on their
ability to explain and rationalize key
aspects of day-to-day surveying by reference
to pertinent legislation, standards of
practice and practical knowledge.
Subject
Avg. Mark
Q1 Titled Boundary Posting 7.1
Q2 Real Property Report 6.6
Q3 Condominium 5.1
Q4 ASCM 6.1
Q5 Evidence Assessment 6.3
Q6 Rural Subdivision 6.9
Q7 Survey Methodology 5.8
Q8 Natural Boundaries 9.0
Q9 Pipeline Right-of-Way 5.6
Q10 Wellsite & Public Land 5.9
Most candidates displayed an unacceptable
lack of familiarity with the
Manual of Standard Practice, as well
as other pieces of regularly relied upon
legislation. Several candidates appeared to
have problems proving their knowledge of
basic field practices.
Candidates should note that active
engagement while gaining practical
experience is a key factor in preparing
for this exam. Candidates are encouraged
to continually question and attempt to
recognize the rationale behind even the
most basic and routine field procedures;
always aim to link practical understanding
and application with legislative reason-
ing, published standards of practice and
professional obligation.
Statute Law
In October of 2009, 19 candidates wrote
the statute law exam the results were as
follows:
Mark # of Candidates
50 to 60 % 2
61 to 70 % 8
71 to 80 % 6
81 to 90 % 3
90 to 100 % 0
With the passing mark being 75%,
nine candidates were successful in passing
this exam.
Most candidates did well on previously
asked questions but the stumbling block
for most candidates was newly formed
questions that were added. Candidates
should read and study each act as laid out
in the exam guide. It is very important
to understand the aspects of statutes and
how each statute applies to the practice of
land surveying.
Students should sit down with their
mentors and review the statutes to reinforce
the important points of each statute.
If the pertinent statute is not in the
common practice of a mentor the mentor,
can refer them to another land surveyor
in industry who specializes in this line of
work that pertains to a particular statute.
A lot of candidates struggled with the
Land Title Act questions. A visit to the
Land Titles Office would help to reinforce
some of the concepts and processes of the
registration of documents and plans.
registration
The Surveying Profession
The exam consisted of 16 questions for a
total of 100 marks. Sixteen students wrote
the exam and eight passed. The highest
mark was 86%, with the average mark
being 70%.
The following is a summary of the
questions and the results from each.
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Abbreviations that land surveyors
come across on a regular basis were
asked. This question is asked on
almost all Survey Profession exams.
The question was worth 4 marks
and the average was 90%.
By-Laws of the Association were
the focus of this question. Worth 5
marks, the average was 80%.
The Role of the Director of Surveys,
the Branch of the Government he
works for, and the name of the current
Director of Surveys was asked
for this question. Total of 3 marks
were possible, with 2.9 being the
average. This question has appeared
a few times over the past four years.
This question dealt with the Director
of Surveys dual plan registration
policy that had been in all of
the weekly emails for the past two
months leading up to the exam.
Students were asked to comment on
what has led to this policy and the
date it come into affect. Worth 4
marks, the average was 2.2.
This question dealt with a June
2009 ALS News article by Bruce
Jones on primary and secondary
evidence, the practice of using fence
lines and the importance of field
ALS News March 2010 . 39

Q6
Q7
Q8
notes. The question was worth a
total of 11 marks, and 8 was the
average.
This question dealt with a June
2008 ALS News Article by Brian
Ross, ALS regarding the PRB budget
and revenue. The question was
worth 6 marks, with the average
being 3.4. This is the second time in
the past year this question has been
asked.
This was a hypothetical question
regarding your responsibilities as an
ALS when using a sub-contractor
according to the MSP. Students averaged
3 out of 4 on this question.
Some of the more recent ALS News
articles by the Safety Committee
were the subject of this question.
The questions asked where ground
disturbance and working near buried
facilities, safety goals, and due
diligence and how you can ensure
that it is being met. This question
was worth 9 marks and 6.5 was the
average.
Q9 The students were asked to name
two qualities an expert witness
should possess. The question was
worth 2 marks and 1.3 was the
average.
Q10 Students were asked to name four
types of artificial (non-monumented)
boundary that can be found in
Alberta. 2.4 out of 4 was the average.
Q11 Title insurance was the focus of this
question. The students were asked
to explain what title insurance is and
whose interest it protects. They were
to answer this question as if they
were approached by a client who is
thinking of getting title insurance
instead of an RPR due to the cost
difference. The question was worth 8
marks and 4.5 was the average.
Q12 This was a hypothetical question
regarding having to deal with a client
where you are behind schedule
and he is approaching some critical
timelines. The students were asked
to explain what they would do if the
client starts to talk about litigation
and professional impropriety, and
whether your firm is in negligence
of contract. The question was worth
10 marks and 5.4 was the average.
Q13 Another hypothetical question
regarding ethics was the focus of
this question. The question was
split into two parts, one dealing
with how you should notify
another surveyor of a mistake you
have noticed and another around
dealing with protecting your client’s
interest when it comes to a natural
boundary. The question was worth
7 marks, and 5.3 was the average.
Q14 The June 2009 ALS News had three
different articles relating to dormant
plans. These articles formed the
basis for this question. Worth 15
marks, 10.6 was the average.
Q15 Naming the four elected positions of
the ALSA Council was asked. The
average was 2.4 out of 4 marks.
Q16 Describing two of the six PRB interpretations
was asked. The average
was 3.1 out of 6.
Employers have the most control
over workplace conditions and
how employees perform their
work. Therefore, they have the
greatest legal responsibility for health and
safety in the workplace, regardless of the
size of the organization. Generally, an
employer’s legal duties, as set in provincial
and federal legislation may be categorized
in terms of general and specific legal duties.
Employers across Canada must comply
with the general duty to ensure worker
health and safety, as well as the more
specific provisions contained in the various
regulations under the relevant statutes
governing health and safety that outline
how to protect worker health and safety in
actual workplace situations. If the legislation
does not specifically cover a particular
workplace situation, the employer is still
under the general duty to do whatever is
necessary or “reasonably practicable” under
the circumstances to ensure worker safety.
Employers also have further duties
to provide employees with the training
and instruction necessary to protect their
health and safety and to ensure that their
workers are capable of performing their
jobs safely. In addition to legislated duties,
employers are also under a common law
duty (arising out of decisions from court
cases instead of legislation) to take reasonable
care of their workers’ safety.
General duties in ensuring workers’
health and safety cover situations that are
normally not contemplated by the specific
provisions in the various health and safety
statutes. Some examples of general duties
include:
• protecting the safety, health and
welfare of workers as is reasonably
practicable;
• complying with applicable legislations;
• ensuring that workers comply with applicable
legislation.
Employers also have specific legal
duties under the various statutes and
regulations that deal with the particular
measures that they must take to ensure
their workers’ health and safety. Examples
of specific duties include:
• Planning and maintaining the workplace
so that the health and safety of
workers is not likely to be endangered.
• Providing workers with information,
instruction, training and supervision.
ALL accidents
are preventable...
they directly stem
from a lack of
control over a
situation or a lack
of understanding
that a dangerous
situation could
exist...
• Informing workers of known or foreseeable
health and safety hazards.
• Providing appropriate safety equipment
for workers and ensuring that
they use it.
In Alberta, general duties for employers
fall under the Occupational Health and
Safety Act. Under the Act employers must
ensure:
• The health and safety of workers engaged
in their work and those workers
who are not engaged in their work but
who are present at the work site.
• That the workers are aware of their responsibilities
and duties under Alberta’s
Act, the regulations and the adopted
code.
In addition to the general duties, Alberta
employers must comply with the more specific
provisions contained in the regulations
(particularly the Occupational Health and
Safety Code) that outline how to protect
worker health and safety in usual workplace
situations. Some of the specific duties
included in Alberta’s OHS Code relate to:
• hazard assessment, elimination and
control;
• specifications and certifications;
• personal protective equipment;
• emergency preparedness and response;
• first aid;
• joint work site health and safety committees;
• Tools, equipment and machinery;
• Workplace Hazardous Materials Information
System (WHMIS).
safety sense
One of the vital elements of every occupational
health and safety program
is a concise and relevant safety manual.
Keeping in mind that every workplace is
different, a safety manual should address
the following:
• analysis of health and safety hazards at
the work site;
• control measures to eliminate or reduce
risks from hazards;
• clearly stated company policy and
management commitment;
• worker competency and training;
• an inspection program;
• emergency response planning;
• incident investigation;
• program administration.
There are numerous resources available
online to help build OHS programs and
to create safety manuals. An excellent
safety manual template, written specifically
for a smaller size surveying company,
is available at: www.sarpigroup.com/sarwiki/doku.phpid=sarforum:health_and_
safety:safety_ program.
The safety manual is set out in eight
sections. Below is a brief summary of topics
covered by each section.
Section 1:
Introduction
This section provides an introduction to
the concept of formal safety programs. It
provides a rationale of a formal, written
safety manual and defines its key terms. It
also introduces the Occupational Health
and Safety Act and offers brief discussion
of company obligations with regards to
the Act.
Section 2:
Health and Safety at
Survey Co. Ltd.
The section describes the health and safety
program at Survey Co. It contains a description
of the structure of the program
and the roles and responsibilities of the
personnel involved. The section explains
the need and role of a safety committee
and safety coordinator. It provides a
summary of resources that ought to be
available and establishes safety reporting
and auditing procedures to be followed.
Furthermore, it demonstrates how safety
audits and inspections can be used to
continuously improve the system, as well as
outlines the safety requirements of contractors
and visitors.
40 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 41

Employers have the greatest legal responsibility for
health and safety in the workplace, regardless of the
size of the organization.
Section 3:
General Health and Safety
The section discusses general safety issues
relevant to all employees of Survey Co. It
starts with the concept of a new employee
orientation and goes on to discuss issues
such as drugs, alcohol and smoking, as
well as harassment and stress management.
It explains in detail how the issues
relate to Health and Safety program of the
Surveys Co. and outlines responsibilities
with dealing with these issues.
Section 4:
Office Health and Safety
In the first part, the section focuses on
safety issues pertinent to office personnel,
such as ergonomics of workstations and
common safety hazards in office environment.
The second part of the section describes
components of a generic fire emergency
response plan and itemizes contents
of an office first aid kit. The section ends
with vehicular safety and temporary field
work discussion.
Section 5:
Field Health and Safety
This section presents safety procedures
relevant to field personnel of Survey Co.
The section starts with the introduction
of the work permit system. It goes on
to cover topics such as field procedures
orientation, daily tailgate meetings, work
hours and communication, personal
protective equipment, working alone procedures,
first aid, bear/wildlife as well as
hunter awareness, firearms policy, H2S/
hazardous chemicals, heat/cold exposure,
chain saw safety, all-terrain vehicle safety,
overhead power lines and electrical fences,
working on highways and in high traffic
areas, industrial facilities safety and confined
space entry.
Section 6:
Forms
This section contains copies of all necessary
forms such as a hazard notification
form, near-miss notification form,
incident notification form and survey
company work permit form. Beside being
included in the safety manual, copies of
applicable forms should be available at all
times in company vehicles and all areas
with work hazard potential.
Section 7:
Contents of the Health and
Safety Library
This section contains a list of materials
and publications that should be available
from the health and safety library.
Section 8:
Revision History
This section contains the record and
documentation of all revisions to the
Survey Co. health and safety policy
manual.
To summarize, a health and safety
manual emphasizes and outlines what
a company expects and encourages
from its workers in terms of health and
safety. It also emphasizes the company’s
commitment to safety and health of its
employees. It summarizes the responsibilities
of a worker and company,
what procedures are in place and what
enforcement will be taken if health and
safety rules are violated.
Finally, to emphasize the need to
adopt and apply a health and safety policy
manual in every company regardless of its
size, I would like to quote one paragraph
from the manual described above:
“...ALL accidents are preventable.
We do not believe that accidents are
random, uncontrollable events. Instead,
they directly stem from a lack
of control over a situation or a lack of
understanding that a dangerous situation
could exist...”
Jaroslaw Matejko, ALS, CLS, P.Eng.
Five on the Side
performs on
Saturday, April 24 th
at the President’s Ball
The Surveys and Technical Services
Section of Alberta Sustainable
Resource Development is working
to improve and update its services
to you and all Albertans.
Dual Registration of
Public Land Surveys
On August 1, 2009, the Director of
Surveys prepared a policy document for
registration of public land survey plans.
The Director has determined that the
intent of the Surveys Act has been met
with registration of public land disposition
survey plans at Sustainable Resource
Development, and duplicate registration
is not required at the Land Titles Office.
The policy document has been updated
to reflect the December 18, 2009 Surveyor’s
Affidavit for public land surveys
and can be found at the web site http://srd.
alberta.ca/ by clicking the ‘Managing Programs’
tab across the top, the ‘Lands’ tab
on the side bar, the ‘Director of Surveys’
tab on the side bar, and the ‘Dual Registration
of Public Land Surveys’ document.
Surveys Act (Surveyor’s Affidavit)
On December 18, 2009, the Director
of Surveys prepared a policy document
for a Surveyor’s Affidavit for public land
surveys. The affidavit recognizes Section
2 of the Surveys Act, which states that
this Act applies to the surveys of any land
within Alberta that is within the legislative
competence of the Legislature.
The policy document can be found
at the web site http://srd.alberta.ca/ by
clicking the ‘Managing Programs’ tab
across the top, the ‘Lands’ tab on the side
bar, the ‘Director of Surveys’ tab on the
side bar, and the ‘Surveys Act (Surveyor’s
Affidavit)’ document.
alberta sustainable resource development
Geo-Referencing Requirements
On December 18, 2009 the Digital Submissions
Review Committee developed
new CAD file geo-referencing requirements
for all plans submitted to the Land
Titles Office and Sustainable Resource
Development.
The geo-referencing requirements
document can be found at the web site
http://srd.alberta.ca/ by clicking the
‘Managing Programs’ tab across the top,
the ‘Lands’ tab on the side bar, the ‘Plan
Information’ tab on the side bar, and the
‘Geo-Referencing Requirements’ document.
Survey Manual for
Public Land Surveys
On February 1, 2010 the Director of Surveys,
with support from the Association’s
Standards Committee working group,
prepared a survey manual for public land
surveys. The manual addresses the survey
requirements for amending dispositions.
FORM 11.1
LAND TITLES ACT
(Section 77)
MONUMENTATION CERTIFICATE
I, (name of surveyor) , of
the (place of residence) , Alberta Land Surveyor,
make oath and say:
1. that the monuments required by section 47 of the Surveys Act have
been placed under my personal supervision, between the dates of
and
, and
2. that the position of each monument on the ground is in accordance
with the co-ordinates shown on the survey plan registered as number
and that the boundaries that
have been established on the ground are in accordance with the said
co-ordinates, except for the following:
(List and describe any boundaries on the ground that vary from the
co-ordinates on the survey plan.)
SWORN before me at )
of )
in the of )
this day of ) Alberta Land Surveyor
A.D. )
)
A Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of Alberta
AR 211/2001 s5; 251/2001
The survey manual can be found at the
web site http://srd.alberta.ca/ by clicking
the ‘Managing Programs’ tab across the
top, the ‘Lands’ tab on the side bar, the
‘Plan Information’ tab on the side bar, and
the ‘Survey Manual’ document.
Section 47 Extensions
(Partial Monumentation)
In accordance with Section 47(3) of the
Surveys Act, surveyors are reminded that
they still need to request extension approval
from the Director of Surveys for all
monuments that have not been placed. In
situations where surveyors have monumented
parts of their subdivision and
registered a monumentation form at the
Land Titles Office, an extension request is
required for all corners that have not been
monumented.
Lesley Laurie, ALS, has provided a
sample partial monumentation certificate
that she has used.
Mike Michaud, ALS
Director of Surveys
FORM 11.1
LAND TITLES ACT
(Section 77)
PARTIAL MONUMENTATION CERTIFICATE
I, ______________________, of________________________, Alberta Land Surveyor,
make oath and say:
1. that the monuments required by section 47 of the Surveys Act have been placed
under my personal supervision, between the dates of ___________________
and _______________________, and
2. that the position of each monument on the ground is in accordance with the coordinates
shown on the survey plan registered as number ____________ and that the
boundaries that have been established on the ground are in accordance with the said
co-ordinates.
All monuments shown on Plan _________________________ have been planted
except the following which will be placed at a later date:
SWORN before me at _______________
in the Province of Alberta __________________________________
this ___day of ______________ A.D.
Alberta Land Surveyor
________________________________________________
A Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of Alberta
NAME:
COMMISSION EXPIRES:
Play
Work
ALSA AGM & Convention
April 22-24, 2010 — Jasper Park Lodge
Relax

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Helping Canadian Alpine Ski
Teams Train for Olympic gold
A little-known gadget developed at the
University of Calgary’s Schulich School of
Engineering has helped the country’s best
ski racers train for such events, including
the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
It’s an invention that could drastically
change the way many athletes train
but until now, the developers couldn’t
talk about it because the project was
top-secret. The result is a world first: the
Sensor for the Training of Elite Athletes
(STEALTH). It is a GPS-based system
that helps alpine skiers perfect their technique
and route, or line selection, down a
course. It helps them get down a slope in
the fastest and most efficient manner.
STEALTH is a partnership between
the Schulich School of Engineering, Alpine
Canada Alpin and Own the Podium.
STEALTH has been in the works for years
and the men’s Canadian Alpine Ski Team
has been training with it since 2007.
Specifications for the project required a
minimum accuracy of 10 cm to detect differences
in line selection for the downhill,
super-giant slalom, and slalom disciplines.
STEALTH performs even better.
“STEALTH performs with an accuracy
of five centimetres and up to a
timing accuracy of .1 millisecond. We’re
the first in the world to do this with such
a high level of accuracy and with a unit
that weighs less than 300 grams,” says
Gérard Lachapelle, Canada Research
Chair/iCORE Chair in Wireless Location.
Lachapelle heads up the Position,
Location and Navigation (PLAN) Group
at the Schulich School of Engineering.
Lachapelle, along with graduate students
Richard Ong and Aiden Morrison, designed
STEALTH.
The system includes a small sensor
worn on a skier’s belt. It tracks the speed
and position of a skier down the mountain.
When the run is played back later
on a monitor using STEALTH’s Alpine
GNSS Graphics software, coaches and
skiers can easily see where improvement is
needed.
“The perfect line allows a skier to come
out of a turn in perfect position to make
the next turn. This is critical when traveling
at these speeds. For this technology to
be accepted and used by the team, its size
and weight had to have minimal effect on
the skiers,” explains Gerald Cole, an expert
in biomechanics at the U of C’s Faculty
of Kinesiology. Cole was a consultant
on the project, acting as a liaison between
researchers and the skiers, advising on the
specifications and needs of the ski team.
“When I started working with the ski
team, people were searching around the
world for the ‘GPS solution.’ I think the
most important thing I did on this project
was to show everyone that we had the
experts in our own backyard.”
Size, weight and accuracy are critical
because alpine skiing is a highly technical
sport in which athletes reach speeds of up
to 150 kilometres per hour. A hundredth
of a second or a centimetre or two can
make all the difference in competition.
STEALTH was developed under an
Own the Podium research and innovation
program, Top Secret. “Top Secret is
a world-unique program designed to give
Canadian athletes the edge in performance,
which can ultimately make the
difference between finishing on or off
the podium,” said Roger Jackson, chief
executive officer, Own the Podium. “Own
the Podium has worked closely with all
winter sports to ensure they have access
to the resources they need to win. The
STEALTH GPS-based system is another
critical resource that will help Canada’s
alpine skiers gain a competitive advantage
against the world’s best athletes.”
Own the Podium provided key hardware
for the STEALTH project as did
NovAtel, a key sponsor of Alpine Canada.
Schulich School of Engineering funding
was provided by Alberta’s iCORE (Informatics
Circle of Research Excellence).
“The Schulich School of Engineering
has shared Alpine Canada Alpin’s vision
that putting our athletes on the podium
requires a commitment to ensuring everything
that could be done was done, that
no stone was left unturned in our pursuit
of medal performances. The dedication
of the Schulich School of Engineering to
the STEALTH GPS project, along with
the continued commitment of partners
such as Own The Podium, has taken us an
important step closer to our goals,” says
ACA President Gary Allan.
Own the Podium began in 2005 and
is a partnership of Canada’s 13 winter
national sport organizations, the Canadian
Olympic Committee, the Canadian
Paralympic Committee, Sport Canada
and the Vancouver Organizing Committee
for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic
Winter Games (VANOC).
Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) is the
governing body for alpine ski racing in
Canada with more than 50,000 athletes,
coaches, officials and volunteer members
and over 200,000 supporting members.
ACA manages the high performance
programs for the athletes of the Canadian
Alpine Ski Team and the Canadian Para-
Alpine Ski Team who represent Canada
throughout the world.
Dr. Sameh Nassar Wins
Teaching Excellence Award
Congratulations to Sameh as this year’s
recipient of the Teaching Excellence
Award for third and fourth year courses
in Geomatics Engineering. The award was
presented by the University of Calgary
Engineering Students Society at their annual
Third and Fourth Year Dinner.
UNB’s CANSPACE 20th
Anniversary Passes
The Canadian Space Geodesy Forum, or
CANSPACE as it is commonly known, is
the oldest and one of only a few e-mailbased
news and discussion lists devoted to
the timely circulation of information for
those interested in the professional aspects
of GPS and other space geodetic systems.
Hosted by the University of New Brunswick,
it was established in 1989 and has
been in continuous operation ever since.
The first message, announcing the
creation of CANSPACE, was sent on
Saturday, 24 June 1989 at 16:36:43 ADT.
It said, in part, “Canada is a leader in the
field of geodesy, the science concerned
with determining the size and shape of the
earth. Yet, because of the vastness of the
country (the second largest in the world)
and the relatively few number of Canadian
geodesists and geophysicists, it is at
time difficult to know who is doing what.
... The need for a mechanism whereby
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ALS News March 2010 . 45

geodesists and geophysicists could keep
each other abreast of developments in the
area of space geodesy was discussed at the
annual meeting of the Canadian Geophysical
Union (CGU) held in Montreal
in May. ... As the majority of Canadian
geodesists and geophysicists work in universities
or in government labs with access
to the Bitnet/Netnorth/Earn Electronic
Mail System and as some private sector
individuals have direct of indirect access
to Bitnet, it was felt that this system
might serve the need for both rapid communication
of important developments
in the area of space geodesy and allow the
interchange of news and ideas. We have,
therefore, established the Geodesy Forum,
a Listserv Message/File server, that can be
accessed through a local bitnet node.
With the merging of computer networks
to form the internet in the early
1990s, CANSPACE became available
to all. Over 15,000 messages have been
posted during the past twenty years. The
list features daily postings of GPS satellite
constellation status reports (Department
of Defense Notice Advisories to Navstar
Users) and reports of significant solar and
geomagnetic field activity. Information
concerning satellite launches is posted
regularly. Questions from graduate students
are asked and answered.
The CANSPACE subscriber list has
grown from just a few Canadian geodesists
and geophysicists in 1989 to over
1,000 individuals, with varied interests,
throughout the world in 2009. Will the
list be around twenty years from now
Only time will tell.
Dr. Petr Vaníček to Begin Second
Term as an International Fellow
In 2008, Dr. Petr Vaníček won one of
a few highly competitive Australian
Research Council International Fellowship
positions granted annually to
non-Australian researchers. The position
is tenable at the Curtin University of
Technology in Perth, Western Australia,
for a total of six months: three months
in 2009 and three months in 2010. The
success rate of winning one of these
positions is low and we congratulate Dr.
Vaníček on his success.
The topic of his research is the reconciliation
of the geoid computed from an
Australian-generated synthetic gravity
field with the UNB-produced geoid
computed from the same data. The geoid
is the level surface that best matches mean
sea level over the whole globe. It follows
the perturbations in the gravity field
caused by ore deposits and other factors
and is important for not only understanding
how the earth “works” but also for
converting heights determined by GPS
receivers into the more common mean sea
level heights.
This direct comparison of geoids is
a novel approach for testing the theory
and numerical procedures coded in the
geoid-evaluation software. The ultimate
goal is to demonstrate that by using the
UNB-formulated algorithm, a geoid can
be computed to an accuracy of one centimetre—an
accuracy not achieved by any
other research team in the world.
Anna Szostak-Chrzanowski
Helps Organize Master’s Program
at the Technical University
of Wroclaw
Adjunct professor Dr. Anna Szostak-Chrzanowski
is a member of the committee at
the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland,
creating a new interfaculty master’s
program called “Mining and Power.” The
program involves the Faculty of Geoengineering,
Mining, and Geology and
the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
and Power. Dr. Szostak-Chrzanowski is
involved in preparation of the course program,
which will start in September 2010
and which will be offered in English. She
will be involved in teaching a graduate
course and in supervising graduate theses
in the program.
Dr. Andrea Carneiro
Becomes GGE Honorary
Research Associate
GGE would like to welcome Andrea
Flávia Tenório Carneiro as our newest
honorary research associate. Andrea
teaches land administration and cadastral
systems in the Department of Cartographic
Engineering at the Federal University
of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, Brazil,
and for the last six years has been very involved
in the GGE CIDA-funded project
led by Dr. Marcelos Santos, involving the
establishment of a new geospatial reference
framework for Brazil – known as the
PIGN project in Portuguese.
Connections
continued from page 25
turned up at a swinger’s house without his
wife. Or there was the other story about
Australian scientists hoping to develop
burp-less sheep to help take on climate
change.
Climate change is a serious but controversial
subject with many people fervently
believing that we need to do something
now while others believe that it’s a bunch
of malarkey. For whatever it’s worth, if
you google “climate change believers,” you
get 747,000 hits but if you google “climate
change deniers,” you get 1,290,000
hits.
Have you ever played googlewhack
A googlewhack is a kind of a contest for
finding a Google search query consisting
of exactly two words without citation
marks, that return exactly one hit, no less
no more. A googlewhack must consist of
two actual words found in a dictionary.
The closest I could come was
“blee”(meaning colour/complexion) and
“schlep” (meaning to move slowly or
laboriously) which yielded 250 results.
On the other hand, if you type in
“surveyor” and “professional” you get
3,740,000 hits with the Canadian Council
of Land Surveyors being the first link
shown.
Just goes to show that land surveyors
are considered professionals.
Brian E. Munday
Executive Director
Past Presidents’
Breakfast
Saturday, April 24 th
George Schlagintweit,
CLS
shares his
experiences from the
WARD HUT ICE CAMP
AS
I went to write this article
for ALS News, it dawned on
me that this will be my final
article as president. As a result, I reflected
on some of the work that we undertook
this year.
...I think of the people
I have met...they are
a remarkable group of
men and women...I am
truly humbled by their
presence.
In my previous articles, I have commented
on seeing the industry flourish
and of the ingenious technologies coming
available. Now, I think of the people I
met and their contributions to the Society
and the industry as a whole. They are a
remarkable group of men and women.
From the consummate professionals, lending
their talent on the Panel of Examiners
and Certifications, to those on the Implementation
Committee I am truly humbled
by their presence. Add to these the
countless others that the ASSMT and the
ALSA have working in the background
on a host of matters. When one stops to
think of the brain trust that is interwoven
within and between our groups, you
cannot help but marvel at the commitment
that is being made on our collective
behalf.
While considering my writing of this
article, I attended an industry advisory
meeting regarding the curriculum offered
by Northern Lakes College. In particular
the program they offer on survey theory
assmt notes
I hope that in the coming year we will be able to
more fully engage the membership and encourage
your participation in working on the exciting changes
and challenges that lay ahead.
and calculations. For those that will
remember, they are what evolved from
the former schools of the Alberta Vocational
Centre. Their program, while being
a fundamental training piece, graduates
very few at the certificate level. They
asked us why. Discussion around the table
looked at the role of coach and mentor to
promote a culture of professional conduct
and engagement. Are we doing enough to
capture the imagination of our associates
and employees to remain and make a
career within our industry
Much of my year has been defined by
the discussions going on within AAMIC,
the ASSMT-ALSA MOU Implementation
Committee. I am of the opinion that few
know or understand the initiative being
undertaken. Our industry has within its
grasp a means of engaging its personnel
and providing career development paths
that raise our overall competency.
The Committee has made significant
progress. A three-tiered syllabus is being
promoted, leading from core knowledge
to supervisory competencies to registered
technologists and their role in conjunction
with the ALSA. The other goals of addressing
the current tiers of certification,
continuing education and competency are
well in hand as well. What remains is an
estimation of costs, equitable fundraising
and raising support by the land surveyors
to utilize the system.
The latter questions are of critical concern
for me as I prepare to leave my post.
While it is certain the Committee will
find answers to these short-term funding
and practice questions, will the ASSMT
be able to survive its own success It is a
member-funded, fully volunteer organization.
The advancement of the Society into
an organization that meets the evolving
needs of industry will demand that it develops
as well. We will need to expand our
membership and grow our base from land
surveying to the other areas of certification
under our mandate. The Society must
find secure, stable, long term funding
solutions to accomplish these obligations.
To begin this dialogue, I will offer one
model that may deserve study. That is the
creation of an industry relations commission.
It would be a joint body tasked with
evaluating ASSMT budgets and assigning
fair and equitable funding in an environment
of collaborative decision making.
The betterment of the broader industry of
surveying and geomatics will be its objective.
This will be especially needed during
the formulation process while the membership
grows to where it may sufficiently
meet the needs of the Society’s mandate.
In closing, I wish to express my sincere
appreciation for all the support and effort
that the ASSMT Council provided me
this year. Of course, this includes our
ALSA liaison, Mr. Jim Maidment, ALS
and Mr. Tim Harding, ALS. I found
working with both a real pleasure. And of
course last, and most certainly not least, I
want to thank the entire membership of
the Society. I hope that in the coming year
we will be able to more fully engage the
membership and encourage your participation
in working on the exciting changes
and challenges that lay ahead.
Darryl Larson, CST
President, ASSMT
ASSMT
38th Annual General
Meeting
will be held in
Rocky Mountain
House
May 28-29, 2010
46 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 47

a moment of silence
Ernest (Ernie) Ferdinand Zander, ALS, CLS
1935-2009
Ernest Ferdinand Zander was born on
March 26, 1935 at Herbert, Saskatchewan
and passed away on November 14, 2009
at Herbert, Saskatchewan.
Ernie got his commission as Alberta
Land Surveyor #343 on December 6,
1970. He was also commissioned as a
Canada Lands Surveyor and held a license
in Alberta as a Land Man.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years,
Sylvia, and his son, Graeme.
Ernie spent most of his career as a land
surveyor in and around Brooks, Alberta.
While in Brooks, he belonged to various
service clubs and worked his way well up
into the ranks of the Masonic Lodge.
Ernie liked to hunt and fish and was a
competitive shooter in large bore pistols
and rifles.
Ernie had a deep and abiding interest
in his church and, upon retiring from
surveying, consolidated this interest by becoming
a pastor. He returned to the area
he was born in to practice his ministry.
I first met Ernie at a committee meeting
in my office Red Deer in the early
1970s and a firm and lasting friendship
ensued.
Ernie and I both swore allegiance to
the Queen with our hand on the bible before
a Supreme Court Judge to obtain our
commissions as Alberta Land Surveyors.
When we later discussed this event, we
both agreed that we believed in the Bible
and the Queen and, as far as I can remember,
this was the only reference between us
about religion or politics.
I had the privilege of associating with
Ernie for many years and observed that,
even with all his commissions, licenses,
awards and such, he still found time
to help his fellow man. He was truly a
gentleman.
I shall miss him.
J.C. John Horn, ALS (Ret.), CLS (Ret.)
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ALS News March 2010 . 49

Army MacCrimmon
The following is a continuation
of the interview between former
business partners Army Mac-
Crimmon and Bill Wolley-Dod
which was printed in the December
2009 issue of ALS News.
Army: Where was your Dad born
Bill: In Calgary.
For some reason I thought that he was born
in the old country.
No, my grandfather came here in 1887
from Cheshire. My good wife and I
spent a night in the old family estate in
Cheshire where grandfather and his bride
lived. He came over here with a group of
young men going to Minnesota to learn
farming and the scheme sort of came
apart at the seams and all the young
men that came over spread out all over
the place and took different jobs. My
grandfather was a census taker in Minnesota
for a while and then went back to
England. He came back here and paused
in Calgary, then went to Vancouver and
didn’t like it there. He came back and
bought a fairly good sized chunk of land
south of Midnapore and then went back
to England, married my grandmother
and brought her back. That was 1887.
INTERVIEWS
They didn’t fly back and forth in those days.
No, it would have taken a little while to
journey back and forth on the ocean and
also even on the train from here to Vancouver
and back.
It was a brand new railroad then, wasn’t it
When I first went out to UBC, it was a
twenty-four hour train trip—probably
seventy-two hours back then. He joined
the Canadian Mounted Rifles as a sergeant
in the 1890s. It was shortly after the Boer
War, 1902 I believe, the 15th Alberta Light
Horse was formed by Colonel James Walker,
Calgary’s man of the century. All of the
members of the Canadian Mounted Rifles
were just absorbed into the new regiment
and he went up through the ranks. I’ve got
his whole history from the military archives
in Ottawa. He became a lieutenant and then
a captain and then a major. He was drafted
to my Dad’s infantry unit, the 31st Battalion
CEF. So Dad was in it, he was a captain and
grandfather was a major at that point. After
the war, he came back and the militia unit
was redesignated from the 15th Alberta Light
Horse to the 15th Canadian Light Horse.
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and
was the commanding officer.
That must be a unique situation where the
father and the son were in the same regiment,
Bill Wolley-Dod
both as commissioned officers. I’ve never heard
of that—because of the age differences—your
Dad must have been a young man when he
got his commission.
Yes, well he was born in 1893.
He’d be twenty-one when the war started.
Yeah. I’ve got a picture of him. They used
to wear their pips on their sleeve. He’s
sitting there in a very formal pose in his
uniform and he just had two pips then.
Before the end of the War, he became a
captain. One interesting thing—I’ve got
a brief history of the 31st Battalion. I’ve
got a whole book on it, but I belong to
the Military Collectors Club of Canada
and they have a quarterly journal —a
very comprehensive thing that comes
out—and there was an advertisement
that the Manitoba Chapter of the organization
was compiling histories of all the
Canadian expeditionary force regiments.
So I sent away and they said for $2 you
can get a copy of this. I sent it away and
they sent back a two-page very brief history.
One thing struck me—they shipped
out, I think, from Montreal, going over
and they landed in Halifax when they
came back but it gives the names of the
ships they were on. The Carpathia was
the ship they went overseas on and I’m
sure that was the first ship to come to the
rescue of the Titanic.
There were a number of ships in the general
area when the Titanic went down. Most of
them didn’t get anywhere near in time.
No.
Back to your bio here. Just a quick question
on your SLS and CLS commissions. Where
did you go for the examinations, Bill, were
you able to take those there in Calgary You’d
have to go to Saskatchewan
Yeah, I went to Saskatoon for the SLS.
Marguerite’s family, shortly after we were
married, was transferred to Saskatoon.
He was Division Master Mechanic with
the CPR and he was sent to Saskatoon to
dieselize the division up there. So, Marguerite’s
grandmother lived in Edmonton. We
drove to Edmonton and left the car there
and took the CNR to Saskatoon and stayed
with Marguerite’s mother and father. I
wrote the exams at the university.
That’d be a nice trip for you.
Yeah, it was, except I could never go into
Saskatoon again. The only direction I knew
was straight up because I think the train
came in and we were heading east from
Edmonton but it made a big circle in the
downtown area so you were facing some
other way when you got off the train. I
didn’t know north from south.
The same thing occurs with the line between
Calgary and Edmonton. When you go
through Red Deer, it makes a complete circle
and you end up going south.
That’s wasn’t a terribly strenuous examination.
One of their past presidents, Ian
Tweddel was one of the examiners.
There was an oral to it as well
There were a very limited number of papers
but at that point in my illustrious career,
I fancied myself quite knowledgeable in
photogrammetry. There was a brand new
exam on photogrammetry—they’d never
had it before. So I studied and sweated and
slaved over that thing and I could derive
any formula and you name it, I could do
it. So I get the paper and there was about
three questions on it. The first one said,
name three practical applications of aerial
surveying. Wow—so I probably aced that
one. The exams on their statutes (I’ve got
them firmly ingrained in my head) they’d
ask me a question and I’d give an answer
on the Alberta scene. They very kindly said,
well you’re close—and kind of drew it out
of my a little more—finally by the third try,
I’d get it right. The other examiner was Roy
McClellan of Underwood and McClellan.
CLS, I always think of it as DLS, at SAIT,
in the old red brick building. It’s a grand old
building. It’s nice to see the first old building
still there.
Yeah. I took wireless training there during
the war—dit, dit, dit dah.
I thought we might be able to talk about
the surveys that you’ve done and just name a
few of the companies. I’ve got about three or
four or five here—Calgary Power, Canadian
Utilities, Kelwood as good clients and I also
wonder how many plans in the Land Titles
Office have got your signature on them. I’d
bet money that you have more signatures on
them than anybody with the exception of
Allan Spence.
I remember when you retired and I had a
connection with the Director of Surveys
Office, I got them to print out a list of all
your surveys.
That’s right—I’ve got that.
I never did that for me.
Well, you should. I had something like 400.
I couldn’t believe it. If that’s the case, you’ve
got 1,400 or 2,000. There’s some people that
brought some money to us Bill—Calgary
Power, Canadian Utilities, Kelwood—I was
going to ask you, can you give me a list of
the subdivisions. Your name is on 95% of
those. Could you run through them for me as
they come to mind—starting wherever you
want—they are all over the city.
Most of them in the southwest. Kelwood
was an offshoot of Reid, Crowther
Consulting Engineers—Haddon, Davis
and Brown back in those days and Norm
Trouth, the first manager of Kelwood
was an engineer with Haddon, Davis and
Brown and he was selected to manage
this new development company they set
up. They had a subdivision on the North
Hill—it began with H and I cannot
remember the name. That was their first
one and then the subdivision where we had
our first house in Glendale was a Kelwood
subdivision. I think that was done by Ley
Harris. Anyway, those were the only two
Kelwood subdivisions that were done by
others and I can’t remember just how the
connection came about but suddenly we
had Norm Trouth on our doorstep wanting
us to do their subdivisions and there were
a lot of them over the years. It started off
with Fairview. There was Fairview residential
and Fariview Industrial which was the
further south one. Then Acadia—then, I
guess we got into Lake Bonavista which
was immediately north of Acadia. Willow
Park was before Bonavista. Then we did
industrial subdivisions for them on the
west side of MacLeod Trail—Haysboro
Industrial and Haysboro Residential—virtually
a whole section of land.
Peter Potella—his would be south of what is
now Glenmore Trail and east of the Blackfoot—that’s
a big industrial subdivision.
Then north of the Blackfoot there was a big
subdivision which was on an old landfill.
Did we do any work on the North Hill
Not in the way of subdivisions—yeah we
did. I remember you and Art Knudson
being out there.
Joe, our pal Drasden—he bought a house on
one of those subdivisions—so we did work in
there. Nothing much in the northeast part
that I can think of. Of course there wasn’t
much development at that time anyway.
We did some fairly major industrial subdivisions
in the Foothills area for the city.
Speaking of Norm Croach, he’s still in business
as far as I know; he is listed in the phone
book. I thought that he was involved in
that Eagle Lake area. I don’t think anything
developed out of it.
Ed Davis of Haddon, Davis and Brown
was the prime mover behind trying to get
something going out there. He had some
grandiose plans—golly that goes back
thirty years.
It was much later than that. It was when
Norm had the storage business that he was
telling me about this Eagle Lake thing—so
he had been fooling around with it for quite
a while. That was exaggerating a little bit,
calling Eagle Lake a lake, it was a slough,
wasn’t it
Still they were peddling lots out there.
But no building—I drove by there about
two weeks ago just to see if anything
happened. Not a thing that I could see.
I shouldn’t say it’s a slough, it’s not a bad
lake—but not too much action.
....to be continued
50 . March 2010 ALS News ALS News March 2010 . 51

history
1953-1954
“New Lines of Thought”
by J.H. Holloway
During the next five years, there ensued the most
active and progressive period in the Association’s
history. Rapid membership growth and the new demands
presented by development and change in the
provincial economy created a number of problems which could
not be ignored, and in readjusting the outlook of the land surveying
profession to these new conditions, a great deal of good work
was accomplished by the Association during 1953 to 1958.
At the 1953 Annual Meeting, interest in the short course approach
to training was still keen and several members expressed
the hope that another course could be provided in the spring
of that year for the benefit of their articled pupils. However, it
was found that only a limited number of articled students were
ready for such a course and there was also an unexpected lapse of
interest in land surveying among the current crop of engineering
graduates, and no action was taken. Proposals for a similar course
came up on one or two occasions in later years, but the demand
was never great enough to justify its repetition, and the 1952
course was the only effort of that kind which the Association took
part in.
In 1951 and 1952, the disciplinary cases which had come
before the Council had made it evident that the provisions of the
Act relating to malpractice contained a number of weaknesses.
This was a subject of some concern to the 1953 Annual Meeting,
and although there was still some reluctance about asking for
changes in the Act, the Committee on Legislation was instructed
to prepare suitable amendments for submission to the government
at some propitious future time. The Committee got busy on
this problem, but four more years had to elapse before any results
were achieved, and it was not until 1957 that the contemplated
changes in the Act were made. New disciplinary provisions were
then enacted, largely on the model of similar changes that had
been made in the Engineering Profession Act in 1956. At the
same time, the Association also succeeded in getting articled service
fully reinstated as a requirement to be met by all candidates
who had not had suitable articled service elsewhere.
Meanwhile, difficulties arose with the DLS Board of Examiners
who, understandably enough, were not disposed to give
recognition to Alberta Land Surveyors who had not served under
articles. Negotiations with the DLS Board continued for two or
three years and satisfactory reciprocal arrangements with regard
to examination exemptions were finally agreed to, but any Alberta
Land Surveyor who had obtained his commission without articled
service was obliged to serve at least one year under DLS articles in
order to be admitted to the DLS final examinations.
Further evidence that 1952 had been the year of “the big leap
forward” was presented in Mr. Hamilton’s presidential address at
the 1953 meeting, when he remarked that in 1952, Alberta Land
Surveyors had used over 27,000 standard survey posts, as compared
with 15,300 in 1950, and that between 1949 and 1953.
the average age of the Association’s members had dropped from
59 to 49 even though everybody had meanwhile become four
years older. For the first time in living memory, the comparative
newcomers in attendance at the 1953 meeting noticeably outnumbered
the representatives of the older generation and made it
conspicuously evident that for more than one-third of a century
prior to 1950, there had been very few changes in the personnel
of the profession.
Perhaps because of this infusion of youthful blood, the 1953
meeting opened up some new lines of thought. It brought forth
not only proposals for strengthening the Act but also produced
other ideas that later materialized in concrete action. There
were suggestions for the re-introduction of a province-wide tariff
of fees, for a two-day annual meeting, for the formation of a
ladies’ auxiliary organization and for the holding of occasional
local meetings of land surveyors at Edmonton and Calgary. The
Association was now beginning to move ahead again, and could
turn its attention to matters other than the problem of new
membership which had for so long been its major pre-occupation.
Three meetings were held by the Council between the 1953
and 1954 annual meetings. This established a pattern of frequency
for, Council meetings which was repeated each year thereafter. The
main item on the Council’s 1953 agenda was the preparation of a
new tariff which, after much labour, was made ready for presentation
to the 1954 Annual Meeting, where it was adopted as “a
recommended schedule of minimum rates to apply to all survey
work performed after January 19th, 1954.”
The Council also proposed the retention of legal counsel to
advise the Association when future questions involving points of
law or legal procedure arose. This action was partly prompted by
the fact that in 1952, a judge of the Supreme Court on appeal
had set aside on the basis of a legal technicality the Council’s
suspension of a member found guilty of malpractice. The Council
also proposed to overhaul the Association’s by-laws, and it was felt
that legal advice in that connection might be needed.
The suggestion that two-day annual meetings be held in future
was examined cautiously by the Council and left for the 1954
Annual Meeting to decide. Even more cautiously, the Council
steered completely clear of the proposal for the formation of a
ladies’ auxiliary, largely out of deference to the attitude of some
of the older members who felt that in the surveyor’s scheme of
things, wives were of less significance than the lowliest chainman.
However, most of the younger members of the Association
contended that the annual meetings should more adequately
combine pleasure with business, and having reached the not
necessarily logical conclusion that the best and least expensive
way of livening up the social proceedings would be to have their
wives participate in such fringe benefits as dining and dancing,
they managed to persuade the 1954 Annual Meeting that the
1955 meeting should be “a two-day meeting with women,” as the
mover of the motion expressed it.
Another new development in 1953 that the Council was able
to support more readily was the formation of a so-called “joint
council of the Associations of the three prairie provinces.” In
November of that year, Mr. Hamilton was officially delegated to
represent the Alberta association at an initial joint meeting held
in Regina, which was attended by Mr. F.S. Hyde, representing the
Manitoba association, Mr. R.S. Galloway, representing the Saskatchewan
association, Mr. R.A. Lellan, unofficially representing
both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and Mr. Max Viminitz, Secretary-Treasurer
of the Saskatchewan association, who recorded the
proceedings. These gentlemen discussed several matters of common
interest to western land surveyors, including tariffs of fees,
reciprocity of examinations and the operation of planning laws
and regulations. They agreed to recommend to their respective
associations that a similar meeting be held each fall at Regina and
that the total costs be shared equally by the three associations.
This arrangement was accepted by all concerned but it lasted
for only four more years and then faded out, mainly because by
1958 the various associations had become financially able to send
official delegates to each other’s annual meetings, thus obtaining
wider and more direct contact with the views and problems of the
surveyors in other provinces.
Consideration of these matters occupied the attention of the
members at the 1954 Annual Meeting, and some time was also
spent in a discussion of professional ethics. This terminated in a
resolution requesting the Committee on Legislation to prepare
a code of ethics on the model of the codes in force in British
Columbia and Ontario, for inclusion in the by-laws which the
Council had instructed that Committee to revise.
The Committee on Legislation duly revised the by-laws during
1954 and added a code of ethics which, it was hoped, would
cover some of the weak points in the disciplinary provisions of
the Act and give the members a clearer idea of what was or was
not to be regarded as unprofessional conduct. They also proposed
the addition of another new by-law requiring the payment of an
annual levy as well as annual membership fees. Rising costs and
inflation of the dollar during the post-war years had reduced the
Association’s financial capability and more revenue had to be
found now that two-day annual meetings were to be held and a
weightier annual report would have to be printed.
During 1954, the secretary-treasurer undertook the preparation
of a revised edition of the manual, which was reprinted at
the end of the year and paid for out of current funds that had
been built up by the steady sale of copies of the first edition.
In 1954, the Council found it necessary to hold a special meeting,
to which other surveyors in private practice were invited, for
the purpose of considering the manner in which the regulations
of the Board of Industrial Relations concerning hours of work
and overtime applied to members of survey parties. A committee
of the Council was appointed to discuss this matter with officials
of the Board, and was later successful in obtaining the passage
of special regulations relating to survey crews, which were much
more acceptable than the Board’s general regulations.
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